Sharif proposes four-point peace initiative with India

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressing the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Proposing a four-point 'peace initiative' with India, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday night said the two countries should address and resolve the causes of tension and take all possible measures to avert further escalation.
The agenda which Sharif described as "simplest to implement", includes formalising 2003 understanding for a complete ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC), agreement not to use force or threat of force under any circumstances, demilitarising Kashmir and agreement to an unconditional mutual withdrawal from Siachen Glacier.
Speaking at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the premier said these peace efforts will help make it possible for the two countries to agree on a broad range of measures to address the threat posed by offensive and advanced weapons systems.
Recalling that when he assumed the office in June 2013, for the third time, it was one of his first priorities to normalise relations with India, Sharif said he reached out to the Indian leadership to emphasise that our common enemy was poverty and underdevelopment. "Cooperation, not confrontation, should define our relationship," he said.
He regretted that unprovoked Indian firing on LoC and the Working Boundary was continuing. Sharif also warned India on interfering in Pakistan's internal matters. "Wisdom dictates that our immediate neighbour refrains from fomenting instability in Pakistan," he said. "Pakistan neither wants to, nor is it engaged in, an arms race in South Asia," he said.
"We cannot, however, remain oblivious to the evolving security dynamics and arms buildup in our region, which obliges us to take essential steps to maintain our security," he added.
"As a responsible nuclear state, Pakistan will continue to support the objectives of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation," he said adding that Pakistan has maintained the highest standards of nuclear security and established an effective regime to ensure the safety and security of nuclear facilities and stocks.
"South Asia needs strategic stability and this requires serious dialogue to achieve nuclear restraint, conventional balance and conflict resolution," the premier said and went on to say that in 1997 when the Composite Dialogue was launched with India, the two countries agreed that this would encompass two principal items: Kashmir and peace and security, along with six other issues, including terrorism.
The primacy and urgency of addressing these two issues was even more compelling today, he added.
"Our peoples need peace to prosper. Peace can be achieved through dialogue, not disengagement," he said. Although the prime minister used his speech to highlight the Kashmir issue more forcefully than it has been done in the recent past, the underlying message was peace, and not further escalation of tensions, as both Indian and Pakistani media had speculated.
As media reports on both sides of the Pakistan-India border had claimed, the address focused on the Kashmir dispute, but it was not a single-issue speech.
Sharif opposed India's bid for permanent seat in UN Security Council and said Pakistan supported a comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including that of the Security Council, but was against creating more permanent UNSC members.
"We need a Security Council that is more democratic, representative, accountable and transparent," he said, disagreeing with India, which wants to become a permanent member of the UNSC with veto powers.
"A council that reflects the interests of all member states, in accordance with the principle of sovereign equality. Not a council, which is an expanded club of the powerful and privileged," Sharif explained.
Vowing to fight terrorism in all its forms, and manifestations, irrespective of who their sponsors are, Sharif reminded the world body that Pakistan was the primary victim of terrorism and had lost thousands of civilians and soldiers to terrorist violence.
He said Pakistan played a significant role in facilitating Afghan peace dialogue but lamented that the process has been discontinued for various reasons.
news@khaleejtimes.com

• Pakistan