Kashmir an 'unfinished agenda' of partition: Raheel Sharif

Pakistan needs peace but the core issue is Kashmir, which has to be resolved first, says Raheel

Terming Kashmir as an "unfinished agenda" of the partition, Pakistan's former army chief Gen (retd) Raheel Sharif on Thursday said normality will return to the region only after the long-standing dispute is resolved.

Raheel, while speaking at the 'Pakistan Breakfast' on the sidelines of World Economic Forum here, said, "Pakistan needs peace but the core issue is Kashmir, which has to be resolved first."

Asked whether peace and economic prosperity could be achieved in South Asia without the resolution of Kashmir dispute, Raheel was quoted by the Express Tribune as saying, "There are three words to explain how to move forward and these are Kashmir, Kashmir and Kashmir."

Raheel termed Kashmir as the "unfinished agenda" of the partition, saying normality will return to the region only after resolving the long-standing dispute.

The session was arranged by Pathfinder Group in its efforts to promote Pakistan at the forum attended by the world's leading political and business personalities.

Raheel stressed that the Kashmir issue should be resolved according to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people and resolutions of the United Nations to achieve durable peace in South Asia.

Responding to another query, the former army chief claimed that the Haqqani network's presence in Pakistan was a mere "rhetoric".

"Pakistan no more has safe havens and all these terrorist networks and their training camps have been flushed out of Pakistan," he claimed.

"This is evident...There has hardly been any drone strike in recent past," Raheel said.

The ex-army chief said Islamabad was ready to go to any length to have peace with Kabul but "there are many terrorist havens in Afghanistan and we have many times shared their locations (with Afghan government).