ISLAMABAD, Aug 14: In a midnight address on Pakistan's 50th anniversary as a nation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called on political leaders to work together to solve the country's problems.

Speaking to the National Assembly in an address broadcast nationally, Sharif noted that the general view was that Pakistan has little to celebrate. The country is wrecked by religious and political violence that has killed almost 400 people this year.

The border between Pakistan and India remains one of the most tense in the world. Public and private corruption is rampant, he said. More than a quarter of Pakistan's 140 million people live in extreme poverty, and almost a half million Pakistani children die annually of malnutrition, the Prime Minister said.

He said he hoped to find peace with India, but stressed Pakistan would not relent on the issue of Kashmir. ``Our Independence only will be complete when the Kashmiri people are also joined with us,'' Sharif said.

The Prime Minister asked political leaders from his Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and other parties to join hands for the nation's progress. He called on the people to make the country into a ``tolerant and democratic'' Islamic state, like the one envisioned by the country's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.