PM says Pakistan has become a country where mothers are afraid to even send children to school
Says India did not reciprocate Pakistan’s efforts to improve relations between both countries
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said military courts should have been established a long time ago, adding that the courts were in place the last time he was prime minister.
“I don’t think people who slaughter others deserve any sympathy,” the premier said while addressing Pakistanis in Bahrain during his two-day visit to the oil-rich country.
“This is the first time such steps have been taken in Pakistan,” Sharif added.
“Terrorists roamed about freely,” he said, in reference to the long gap between his current and past tenures. “Such people should be dealt with.”
Speaking about the devastating attack in Peshawar — in which 150 people were killed, including school children — Sharif said the 21st Constitutional Amendment had been signed to ensure that such an incident never takes place again.
He said he was thankful to those who voted in favour of the amendment, and was also thankful to those who abstained as they were at least present in parliament.
“Pakistan is a country now where mothers are afraid to even send their children to school, a country where families are afraid their relatives may not make it back home,” the prime minister said.
In regard to the establishment of military courts, Sharif said the militants will be tried and if found guilty, they would be hanged in 10-15 days.
“Terrorism has been prevalent in Pakistan for several years,” he said.
“The government has tried to conduct dialogue with the militants, but to no avail.” He said the attack on the airport in Karachi was an “eye-opener”. “After that day, we decided that we would not continue with the dialogue process. Shortly after that, we launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb which has been very effective,” the prime minister said.
Sharif also highlighted the relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and reiterated their commitment to fight terror. He also said he was hopeful of the relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan improving, as well as improvements of issues on western borders.
DISAPPOINTED WITH INDIA:
On the LoC and Working Boundary violations by India, Sharif said his government made sincere efforts to improve relations with the new government in India, but the efforts were not reciprocated.
He spoke about his attempts to improve bilateral relations, “When I was invited to visit India for their new prime minister’s oath-taking ceremony, I made the decision to go without hesitation, whereas they cancelled a scheduled meeting with Pakistan just three days before it was bound to take place.”
He said India cancelled the foreign secretary level talks on the pretext of the Pakistani High Commissioner’s meeting with the Kashmir leadership, which has been a practice for 60 years.
