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UN resolution only way to resolve Kashmir issue: APC

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Granting the people of Jammu and Kashmir their right to self-determination as promised in United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions was the only way to resolve the Kashmir dispute, said a declaration by an All Party National Conference on Kashmir organized by Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) here on Monday.

The conference attended by around 40 political parties including Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians, Muthida Majlis-e-Amal and its component parties, nationalists parties and major political parties of AJK, reiterated the resolve to continue moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris in their fight for freedom.

The participants condemned the government’s policy of ignoring UN resolutions and President’s Pervez Musharraf’s statements on Kashmir without taking into confidence the parliament or its Kashmir committee. It called for carrying out the dialogue process with India in line with the Shimla Agreement of 1972, Islamabad Declaration of 1988 and Lahore Declaration of 1999. They called for a greater national consensus on the issue and inclusion of Kashmiris in the process of dialogue.

They criticized the government for not taking up the violation of the Indus Water Treaty by India, which they feared might make Pakistan barren land. They said the ambiguous policy of the government during the LoC fencing by India also raised apprehensions that the government might accept the ceasefire line as a permanent border.

Earlier speaking on the occasion PML-N chairman Raja Zafar ul Haq said that by citing various options the government had created chaos among the people, who felt that Pakistan had changed its stance on Kashmir. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, said Jammu and Kashmir was disputed territory and only Kashmiris could decide its future. He said UN resolutions granted Kashmiris the right to exercise their will for the future of their state. He said the world and India were morally bound to grant the Kashmiris this right.

Amin Fahim of PPP-P said the authoritarian rulers were on one side of the fence while thousands of Pakistanis and Kashmiris were on the other. He said the options offered by the present government were unacceptable and the resolution of the Kashmir issue lay in UN resolutions. Former ISI chief Lt Gen (r) Hameed Gul said the options leading to division of Kashmir would never serve Kashmiris’ or Pakistan’s interests, instead they would lead to perpetual tension with the Kashmiris. He said UN resolutions were still valid. Gul said only one man was dealing with the fate of the country.

Sardar Qayum Khan, supreme head of ruling Muslim Conference in AJK, said the Kashmir issue should be looked at from the international angle rather than sticking to a narrow approach. He said world politics had changed after 9/11.

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