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Address to AJK Council: Kashmir’s resolution for peace should be recognised, says PM

* Pakistan won’t agree to making LoC border
* Kashmiris have direct stake in peace process

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Monday that India and Pakistan had reached the point where they must move from dispute management to dispute resolution.

Addressing the 36th session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council, Aziz said a just and durable resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiris lay at the heart of the peace process.

“It requires courage, flexibility, magnanimity and leadership; a leadership that can resolve this issue and build a better future for the peace and progress of their people,” he said. “We must not avoid the responsibility of demonstrating the necessary political will to eliminate the root causes of the differences in our region to ensure a better, more prosperous, and more secure future for our people,” he added.

Pakistan has also made clear that it will not agree to any proposal aiming to convert the Line of Control (LoC) into a permanent border, Shaukat Aziz said. “Pakistan has started a composite dialogue with India hoping it will ultimately lead to a just and durable solution of all issues with it, particularly the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.”

He said that Pakistan had taken several confidence-building measures including starting a bus service across the LoC in Kashmir, offering India an energy corridor, restoring people-to-people contact and trade links.

The prime minister said Pakistan believed that the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, started on the demand of Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC, would contribute to consolidating the peace process.

He also said that during talks between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Kashmir, both sides agreed to continue discussions in a sincere, purposeful and forward-looking manner for a final settlement. They also agreed to pursue further measures to increase interaction and cooperation across the LoC for the benefit of Kashmiris, he added.

Pakistan was committed to the dialogue process, which it believed was irreversible, he said, adding that it was imperative that the composite dialogue process be sustained and result-oriented to resolve India-Pakistan issues. “We also understand that our economic and trade relations must move in tandem with progress on political disputes,” Shaukat Aziz added.

Pakistan was committed to promoting peace and prosperity in South Asia, he said. “We believe that the improvement in atmospherics offer a unique opportunity that must be seized to resolve the Kashmir dispute in a manner that is acceptable to Pakistan, India and most importantly Kashmiris,” he said.

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