ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has constituted the National Kashmir Committee (NKC) presided over by Azad Kashmir Muslim Conference chief Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan.

The president will preside over the first meeting of the committee on Jan 15.

The government has reportedly decided to take bold steps in line with the demand by the international community to resolve the Kashmir issue with India under the spirit of give and take. The coalition, led by the United Sates and the United Kingdom, is pressing the government to stop Pakistani militant groups from entering Indian held Kashmir to boost the armed struggle by Kashmiris against Indian occupation. The Kashmir Committee is expected to advance the same spirit.

Sardar Qayyum’s selection is being given significance by the political observers as the veteran politician is a known opposer of external support to the indigenous Kashmiri struggle.

He is believed to have also been selected to give the committee, which in the past had been presided over by Pakistani politicians, a pure Kashmiri colour.

He was sidelined in the recent power game in Azad Kashmir when Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan was preferred to him for the premiership and Sardar Anwar was brought in from the army to become president of the state.

Some elements privy to the situation claimed that Sardar Qayyum was brought to support the government’s initiative for resolution of the Kashmir problem, which was echoed by the visiting US senators on Tuesday.

Sources revealed that the new NKC chairman had been taken into confidence on the matter and he would support Gen Musharraf’s initiative.

According to a press release issued here on Wednesday, the members of the committee, drawn from a cross section of the society from the four provinces, Northern Areas, AJK and overseas Pakistanis and Kashmiris will be announced prior to its first meeting.

Sardar Qayyum had demanded that the provincial governors should be made members of the committee to make it strong. The prime minister and president of AJK may also be made its members.

The committee, the handout said, “will project the Kashmir cause at the international level and mobilise world opinion for settlement of the dispute in accordance with relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

Its mandate will be to secure international support for the freedom struggle and to highlight the violations of human rights by the occupation forces.