Shehbaz welcomes talks on North Korea, urges world to focus now on peace in Kashmir, Kabul

LAHORE: PML-N President and former Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said the Singapore Summit between the United States of America and North Korea should set a good precedent for Pakistan and India to follow.

Welcoming the U.S-North Korea Summit, he said, ever since the start of the Korean War, the two nations had been at odds with one another; both threatening to use military force with their nuclear arsenals facing each other.

Shehbaz Sharif stated, if the United States and North Korea could return from the brink of a nuclear flashpoint, there was no reason why Pakistan and India couldn't do the same, beginning with a dialogue on Kashmir whose heroic people had resisted and rejected Indian occupation.

With the example of the Korea, where a peace dialogue had been successful in achieving a major breakthrough, Shehbaz Sharif said, "It is time for comprehensive peace talks to be held in our region." He urged the international community to focus on the peace process in Afghanistan. He also sought the resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India over Kashmir, so that the long-festering Kashmir dispute was resolved in accordance with United Nations resolutions.

He also welcomed the initiatives for ceasefire in Afghanistan during Eid-ul-Fitr, mooted by the Afghan government and also by the Afghan Taliban.

Terming it as a positive first step towards promoting an Afghan-led & Afghan-owned peace process, the PML-N President said the PML-N government had played a pivotal role in initiating steps for peace in Afghanistan, including hosting the first ever direct, face to face talks between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban in Murree in July 2015.

Sharif pledged the top priority of the PML-N government, when in office next Insha Allah, would be to promote peace in the region with a focus on Afghanistan, as peace in Afghanistan was inextricably intertwined with peace and security in Pakistan.