AGENCY
Islamabad: Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday condemned the “brutal killings” of youths in Kashmir, joining the rhetorics of Prime Minister Nawaz Sahrif’s government on the issue.
“Condemning Indian brutal killings of innocent Kashmiri youth, Chief of Army Staff (Gen Sharif) reiterated that the world needs to recognise the aspirations of Kashmiri people, their struggle for freedom and help resolve the long standing dispute for lasting amity in Kashmir and enduring peace in the region,” said an army statement.
The statement was issued after the monthly Corps Commander Conference at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi to review the internal security situation.
External security situation was also discussed with particular emphasis on the situation in Afghanistan, it said.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sharif convened a special Cabinet meeting in Lahore on Friday to discuss the “deteriorating situation” in the violence-hit Kashmir and chalk out “future course of action” on the issue.
India had asked Pakistan to refrain from interfering in its internal affairs after Sharif issued a statement expressing “shock” at the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani.
Meanwhile, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad Hizbul Mujahideen chief Sayed Salahuddin, who also heads the umbrella group of militants – the United Jihad Council, accused India of “genocide” in Kashmir, according to AFP.
If India’s “occupation” troops continue “with the genocide of Kashmiris then along with armed struggle we will also start a civil disobedience movement in Kashmir,” Salahuddin told a gathering, amid calls for jihad.
