Muzaffarabad, June 18: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif on Monday expressed sympathies and solidarity with the families of 36 soldiers of Gayari sector belonging to different parts of PaK and said the whole nation shared their grief and pain.
 During the visit, Sharif also distributed cheques, each amounting Rs 500,000, on behalf of the Punjab government among the dependants of 21 soldiers in Muzaffarabad and 15 in Neelum valley’s district headquarters, Athmuqam.
  “We realise your sufferings but it is true that nobody can feel that pain the way its experienced by a mother, father, brother sister, wife and children of a soldier,” he said at a brief ceremony at a 5-star hotel here.
 Before the distribution of cheques by Punjab Disaster Management Authority’s Director General Mujahid Sher Dil, the PML-N chief asked mediamen to stop filming the process to protect the self-respect of recipients.
 PML-N PaK chapter president Raja Farooq Haider, members of PML-N parliamentary party in PaK Legislative Assembly and a large number of PML-N workers attended the ceremony.
 Sharif recalled that within few days of the incident he flew into Gayari sector and saw for himself the area where glacier had struck the entire unit.
 The armed forces, he said, also deserved appreciation for their relentless rescue operation.
 “Indeed it’s a big tragedy but what gives more pain is non-recovery of many bodies of soldiers.”
 The PML-N president however restricted his speech in Muzaffarabad to paying tributes to the soldiers and their families and, unlike expectations, did not say anything about the issue of Kashmir, of whose offshoot is Siachen problem.
 However, in an open public meeting in Athmuqam, he said the PML-N fully supported right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.
 “It’s the Muslim League that made the defence of Pakistan impregnable by conducting atomic explosions which discouraged our enemy to attack us,” he said, adding, “We have sworn on oath to defend our motherland.”
 Sharif also took strong exception to the Peoples Party government in Pakistan, accusing it of turning a blind eye towards the problems of masses.
 “Had this government followed mine and Benazir Bhutto’s ideology, Pakistan would not have faced the present situation,” he said.
 He asserted that the PML-N was doing politics of principles and did not compromise with anyone, including Musharraf, on those principles.
 “This government is worst than that of dictator (Pervez) Musharraf’s (regime). They are engaged in loot and plunder and will flee the country like Musharraf,” he alleged.
 He said the PML-N had been defeated in PaK through the worst ever rigging in last year’s polls.
 Of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, he said: “We pay tributes to him for he has brought his own son to the dock.”
 “The entire nation is on the back of Chief Justice,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST