MUZAFFARABAD: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar on Friday blamed the ‘double standards’ of the international community, particularly major powers, for sparking terrorism in various parts of the world, especially in Pakistan.

“Had the international issues like that of Kashmir and Palestine been settled in accordance with the wishes of their people as well as UN resolutions, the world would not have been in a mess it is in today,” he said while addressing the Mirpur District Bar Association (DBA) during his visit to the lakeside city of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

  The governor said the whole world was suffering from the consequences of American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11.

The champions of human rights would indoctrinate others to respect human rights but would not apply the same principles to themselves, he said.

The governor pointed out that Pakistan alone had suffered damages to the tune of $100 million in the war against terror, apart from over 50,000 casualties.

“It’s incumbent upon the United Nations to immediately resolve the issues of Kashmir and Palestine.”

Referring to the Peshawar carnage, Governor Sarwar said the killing of schoolchildren was the worst ever incident of barbarism not just in Pakistan but across the globe.

The war against terrorism in Pakistan could be won only by maintaining complete unity, integrity and harmony, and its a good omen that the entire Pakistani nation had united in fighting the terrorists and extremists to rid the country of this menace, he said.

He stressed that education should be made a weapon against terrorism. “There should be uniform education system across the country,” he said.

Besides, he said, corruption that was sweeping across the country like cancer also needed to be eradicated for much needed economic stability.

“If this scourge is rooted out, we can become one of the ten economically powerful nations of the world.”

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2014