Forefathers thought we were different from Hindus, claims Pakistan Army chief as he calls Kashmir 'jugular vein'

Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir described Kashmir as Pakistan's "jugular vein" while addressing the first Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad recently.

"Our stance is very clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, and we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle," Gen Munir said at the event, attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, senior ministers and Pakistanis living abroad, even as he asked overseas Pakistanis to pass on the nation's story to their children.

Further, he emphasised that their forefathers believed Hindus and Muslims were different in every possible aspect of life.

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He urged the diaspora to preserve the values and vision for which Pakistan was created and share its story with their children. "You have to tell Pakistan's story to your children so that they don't forget that our forefathers thought we were different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life," he said, evoking the two-nation theory propagated by Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

"Our religions are different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different. That was the foundation of the two-nation theory that was laid there. We are two nations, we are not one nation," he added.

India has repeatedly told Pakistan that the Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh "was, is and shall forever remain an integral part of the country.

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