‘Decision’ ruined plan to end unemployment

MUZAFFARABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that he would have done away with the unemployment had the court decision not been made against him. He was addressing a public gathering on the Kashmir Solidarity Day at the Muzaffarabad University College Ground on Monday.

He said “I have been disqualified from Pakistan, but am ‘qualified’ for AJK,” asking the AJK premier to utilise his services in the state. He said his love for Kashmir is eternal and requires no official positions. “No [court] decision can break the bond I have with the people of Kashmir,” Nawaz asserted, referring to his disqualification as the prime minister by the Supreme Court last year. “My heart beats equally for Pakistanis and Kashmiris,” he said.

Addressing the Kashmiris across the border in Indian- held territory, Nawaz condemned the state brutality and said the “the people of Pakistan stand with you”. He also prayed that the freedom struggle in Indian-held Kashmir achieves victory soon.

Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan in his speech paid gratitude to the Pakistanis for expressing historical solidarity with the Kashmiris every year. He said the people of Indian- held Kashmir would get liberation from the Indian occupation at last.

For the first time, Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif addressed the gathering after her father. Speaker AJK Legislative Assembly and secretary general PML-N AJK Shah Ghulam Qadir also addressed the gathering.

Earlier, thousands of chairs were set up by the organisers at the University College Ground Muzaffarabad. The venue ground and nearby areas were decorated with welcoming banners for the PML-N leaders.

Meanwhile, the Kashmir Solidarity Day was observed across the country on Monday to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people who are struggling for their right to self-determination under the United Nations resolutions.

The day saw special prayers in mosques for progress and prosperity of Pakistan, eternal peace of the martyrs of Kashmiri struggle and liberation of all occupied territories, including Indian-held Kashmir and Palestine.