Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wedesnesday hit back at his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, saying poverty cannot be eradicated by “driving tanks on farmlands” and once again needled India by calling Hizbul commander Burhan Wani a “son of the Kashmiri soil”.
Reacting to Sharif’s statement, India on Wednesday night said it shows Pakistan’s continued affinity for terrorists.
Responding to Modi’s speech last month challenging Pakistan to a contest over eradicating poverty and other social ills, Sharif said, “If they (Indian leaders) want us to fight them to end poverty, then they should realise that poverty cannot be eradicated by driving tanks on farmlands.”
Sharif, while addressing a joint session of the Parliament convened to discuss the security situation in the wake of increasing India-Pak tensions, accused India of running away from dialogue and instead creating a war-like environment by blaming Pakistan for the Uri terror attack in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed last month. “We have done everything to make India come to the dialogue table, but India did not let it happen. Our efforts were thwarted over and over again,” Sharif claimed.
“Without any investigation (into Uri incident), within a few hours, India blamed Pakistan for the attack,” he said.
Sharif accused India of having some “motives” in blaming Pakistan for the Uri attack when it was “not even established” that who was involved in it.
The Pakistan Prime Minister also accused India of violating the loC ceasefire agreement and launching “aggression” against Pakistan.