Islamabad: Describing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s rhetoric about accession of Kashmir to Pakistan as “wishful thinking”, a leading Pakistani daily on Sunday said, adding statements like these will invite “more trouble” for the country as well as for the Kashmiri people.
“It has become a norm for politicians to make unrealistic claims and repeat popular phrases for getting votes… Talking about Kashmir’s accession with Pakistan is easy but nobody knows how it will happen,” the Daily Times said in an editorial referring to Sharif’s recent statement that Pakistan is waiting for the day when Kashmir becomes its part.
Slamming the prime minister’s statement as mere “rhetoric”, it said that politicians utter these statements to win the masses’ support and the people continue to suffer due to this mentality.
“Pakistan’s official stance on Kashmir is that it extends all-out moral support to Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom, and will continue to raise its voice for their right to self- determination at every platform. This stance is commendable but making statements about the accession of Kashmir without any clear policy seems inappropriate,” it said.
By uttering these words, in fact, the prime minister is challenging the authority of India and inviting more trouble not only for Pakistan but Kashmiris also, it said.
The conflict over Kashmir, the editorial said, can be solved either through talks or war.
“There is no other solution to this seven decades long conflict,” it said.
The daily goes on to question what “Pakistan can offer to Kashmiris when it is still coping with numerous challenges that are posing a threat to its own stability?”
Instead of talking about capturing more land, government needs to make Kashmir under its control a model state where all Kashmiris happily aspire to live.
For the last 67 years, Pakistan has failed to ensure good governance in its Kashmir. Not only that, many areas of the country are still facing neglect where people have no access to basic needs of life, it said.
Calling for a ‘political solution’, it asked the governments of Pakistan and India to resolve the bilateral issues amicably, saying, “they must compromise in the larger national, regional and global interest,” it added.