PESHAWAR, May 11: The provincial president of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Pir Sabir Shah, on Saturday criticized the government for its deviation from Pakistan’s historical and principled stand on the Kashmir issue.

In a statement, he said the dubbing of freedom fighters, who were fighting in Kashmir against the oppression of the 800,000-strong Indian occupation forces, as terrorists by the government amounted to substantiating Indian allegations.

He said United States Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage’s refusal during the joint press conference with Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri to admit Kashmir as the core issue between Pakistan and India had exposed the failure of the rulers.

Mr Armitage, he said, also quoted President Gen Pervez Musharraf as telling him that the Mujahideen’s camps would be rooted out in one day from Kashmir, which, he said, had abundantly showed that the government  had deviated from the 50-year-old stand.

Mr Shah said that a foreign ministry spokesman’s statement that Pakistan would not need to maintain its nuclear status meant that the rulers had agreed to do away with the nuclear capability.

The former chief minister said the Indian  government was playing  a dangerous game at the behest of the US, while the rulers of the country were out to placate America even at the cost of its sovereignty.

He said the only strength of the country was its nuclear capability and a compromise on it would be tantamount to suicide. Pakistan would not remain a strong nation after ending its nuclear programme, he said.