LONDON: Terming the Kashmir issue an unfinished agenda of partition of the Subcontinent, Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif said on Friday that the world community must come forward to help resolve the longstanding issue if it wants genuine peace in the region.

Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute, an independent think tank on defence and security, he said that Indian intransigence, violations of the Line of Control and indirect strategy against Pakistan were adversely affecting the region.

He said the dispute between Pakistan and India “resides in the Kashmir issue”.

The army chief said that Pakistan would continue to support all efforts for an enduring and permanent peace in Afghanistan and warned against detractors and spoilers of these efforts. “While we continue to support enduring and permanent peace in Afghanistan, let us all beware of detractors and spoilers.”

Gen Raheel Sharif said that reconciliation was the only way forward in Afghanistan and everyone should support it, according to a tweet by ISPR chief Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa.

The army chief said, “We have brotherly relations and blood ties with people of Afghanistan.” Border management and far greater international cooperation were needed for regional peace. He said that anti-Pakistan propaganda must come to an end.

Commenting on Pakistan’s security environment, he said it’s now becoming conducive for upward economic trajectory, adding that efforts for “total security will continue”.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd , 2015

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