LAHORE, Jan 8: Pakistan wants peace with dignity. Once war is imposed on it, the nation will fight it with traditional valour, bravery and national solidarity.

This was stated by Millat Party president Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari while speaking at a well-attended “Peace and Solidarity Conference” convened by the party.

“The struggle in Kashmir is a purely indigenous and freedom movement and it can be equated with the freedom war that the US had fought some 225 years ago. Kashmir and its freedom struggle are part of our national conscience and no Pakistani leader can afford to ignore it,” he said, adding that India and the world must realize it in the better interest of the region and global peace.

He said it was true that Pakistanis were presently fighting for economic survival of the country but this did not in anyway mean that they would bow to Indian pressure and threats.

He said on the national scene the Millat Party was struggling to change the political culture of the country, promote tolerance, peace and national solidarity. He said most of problems of the country stemmed from an intolerant culture developed in the country over the last many decades.

PML-LM president Mian Muhammad Azhar said India had never accepted Pakistan as a country and the present situation required the nation to forge unity in its ranks so that no country could ever think of attacking Pakistan.

About divisive political culture, Mian Azhar said that it touched new heights during the last regime when even a social visit to political rivals was construed as betrayal and punished accordingly. This led the country to a political chaos. This culture had to be changed to let democracy take roots.