Shehbaz Sharif flexes 'nuclear' muscle, says India cannot see Pakistan with 'evil eye'

Shehbaz Sharif. File Photo/AFP

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed that India would not be able to cast an evil eye on his nuclear-armed country, which has the "power to pullout the enemy's evil eye and crush it under its feet."

In an address in PoK on Sunday, as streamed by various YouTube channels the Pakistan Prime Minister said, "Pakistan is a nuclear power and India cannot look at us with an evil eye. We have the power to take it out and crush it under the feet."

The Pakistan PM also raked up the Kashmir issue again by underlining the need of gaining economic and political stability "to get freedom for the Kashmiris."

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He said, "Pakistan will continue to lend moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmir cause, until its freedom from Indian oppression."

This is not the first time that Pakistan has been flexing its nuclear muscle in front of India. Time and again, Islamabad has escalated the cross-border issues and has also stated how the country's nuclear assets "meet each and every international standard in accordance with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)."

At Sunday's rally, Sharif is heard saying, "Yeh jo badi badi riyasatein hain jinhone jabhooriyat k libase odh rakhein hai.... toh jiski laathi uski bhais (All these big big nations who have cloaked themselves under democracy seems like they are doing whatever they wish to, unchallenged.)"

However, in an interview with Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV early this January, the Pakistan Prime Minister stated that after three wars with India it has learnt its lesson and now wants peace with its neighbour. "We have learnt our lesson, and we want to live in peace with India, provided we are able to resolve our genuine problems," Sharif said.

Sharif also called for "serious and sincere talks" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on "burning points like Kashmir." "My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let's sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning points like Kashmir. It is up to us to live peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other and waste time and resources," Sharif said.

With reference to Sharif's interview, a spokesperson of the Pakistan Prime Minister's Office raked up the issue of Kashmir and called for the restoration of Article 370.

"Prime Minister has repeatedly stated on record that talks can only take place after India had reversed its illegal action of August 5, 2019; without India's revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible. The settlement of the Kashmir dispute must be in accordance with the UN resolutions & the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," read a statement by the Pakistan PMO.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan PM at Sunday's rally in PoK touched on the financial crisis faced by his country. "We are faced with huge financial challenges. While I talk to you here, an IMF delegation in Islamabad combing every book and subsidy of every single penny."

"We have to live, but like the living nations do and not with a begging bowl. This continued to happen over the past 75 years, but someone somewhere has to stop it. And this will stop when the whole nation will unite to challenge poverty, hunger and dearness and generate the country's internal resources."

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