Pakistan has the right to carry out relevant activities in the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir region and establish economic cooperation with China for its development, visiting former prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif said in Beijing yesterday.

Sharif, the current chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the opposition party in Pakistan, made the remarks when addressing an earlier report from India, which criticized China's involvement in ongoing projects in the Kashmir area.

India on Sunday described China's involvement in several of the area's projects as "illegal". Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna said they are "indeed concerned about some of these developments", according to the Indian Express.

"The criticism is not fair. It is the basic right and requirement for Pakistani in the (Pakistan-controlled) Kashmir area to benefit from such projects and no one can deprive them of these rights," Sharif said.

The PML-N leader, who was received by Vice-President Xi Jinping on Monday, stressed that Pakistan has the right to decide if cooperation with China is needed.

According to the website of the Council on Foreign Relations, there are about 10,000 Chinese workers engaged in 120 projects in Pakistan. Chinese investment there - including heavy engineering, power generation, mining, and telecommunications - was valued at $4 billion in 2007 and is expected to rise to $15 billion by this year.

"Pakistan and India have long outstanding issues that need to be solved, and we are thankful for China's support for Pakistan on the Kashmir issue," he said.

The opposition leader added that India and Pakistan have engaged in an "unnecessary and unproductive" arms race in the past 60 years and both have spent billions of dollars on military hardware and ignored the fundamental rights of the people.

Sharif stressed that China is the "most reliable friend" of Pakistan and the "all-weather" friendship between the two countries are "time-tested" and will remain strong.