Kashmir is last unfinished agenda of partition: Raheel

Country has built stability and reduced terrorism

DAVOS/ SWITZERLAND: Calling Kashmir the unfinished agenda of the 1947 partition of the Asian subcontinent, former army chief General (retd) Raheel Sharif on Thursday said the conflict over the Himalayan territory had to be resolved as per the aspirations of the Kashmiris and the United Nations’ resolution for durable peace in South Asia.

Pakistan needs peace but Kashmir is a core that needs to be resolved first, said the former military chief while speaking at Pakistan Breakfast on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting.



Responding to a question whether peace and economic prosperity could be achieved in South Asia without the resolution of Kashmir issue, Gen (retd) Raheel said the solution must be according to UN resolutions.



“Kashmir is the unfinished agenda of the sub-continent partition and normalcy will return to the South Asia region only after the issue is resolved,” he added.

He said that Pakistan has done enough in the fight against terrorism and has contributed a lot in global peace.

“Pakistan has come out of the shackles of terrorism and extremism and everyone has tasted peace and wants prosperity,” said the former military chief.

Through operation Zarb-e-Azb, he said, the writ of the state has been restored. Balochistan being the biggest province has been stabilised. “The hunt for terrorists will continue in the form of combing operations,” he added.

“I am sure General Qamar Javed Bajwa will take it further and with the support of the government and with the decisions taken by the government at the appropriate level and in an appropriate manner,” said the ex-army chief.

He said that Pakistan is a dynamic country and can work under adverse conditions. With stability, prosperity was just around the corner, he said.

To a question, Gen Raheel said the Haqqani Network’s presence in Pakistan was just rhetoric and terrorists did not have safe havens in Pakistan. “The evidence to it is the fact that there have hardly been any drone strikes in the recent past,” he added.



The former army chief stated that Pakistan was ready to go to any length to have good relations with Afghanistan but added that there are many terrorist havens in the neighbouring country which Islamabad had shared with Kabul.

Zarb-e-Azb

Gen Raheel also shared his thoughts on the success of the military operation and the sacrifices rendered by the army. He said the success was the result of civilian-military team work and the resolve of civil and military leadership.

“Pakistan has built stability bit-by-bit and now the terrorist attacks have drastically reduced,” Raheel said.

He said that the situation in Karachi had remarkably improved. “A couple of years back, Karachi was considered the sixth most dangerous city in the world and now it is 31st on the list,” said the former chief.

He said stability had returned to Pakistan but at a very heavy price. “We have lost 25,000 civilians and military personnel. Out of them 6,000 were uniformed men. Across the country about 25,000 intelligence-based operations were carried out and around 33,000 individuals were arrested,” he stated.

He said that 850,000 people were affected and had moved out of the operation area but now 90 per cent have returned home. “Operation Zarb-e-Azb brought hope back to the people,” Raheel added.

He said around 4,000 hard core terrorists were killed and around 240 uniformed men lost their lives during the operation.

The former army chief said the situation was ripe for foreign investment in Pakistan and the government was working to overcome energy shortages.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2017.