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| November 26, 2002 | Tuesday | Ramazan 20, 1423 |
Amanullah for giving autonomy to Kashmir
ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Kashmir has become a matter of national ego for both Pakistan and India and the only solution lies in granting autonomy to the valley and installing a secular and democratic government there.
This was stated by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Amanullah Khan while speaking at a seminar, titled “the impact of election in the held Kashmir”, organized by th SDPI on Monday.
Altaf Qadir, a representative of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), was another key speaker on the occasion.
“India views it a death blow to its much trumpeted secularism if Kashmir accedes to Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan is obsessed with annexing Kashmir at any cost to achieve the completion of its two nation theory”, Mr Khan said.
The only way out of these conflicting claims, he observed, was the birth of an autonomous state. He said India had failed to project the elections as a substitute for the right to self- determination.
However, he admitted that the elections were comparatively fair and transparent, compared with those held in the past and the world had, by and large, accepted the outcome. “In fact, the elections have weakened the stance of Pakistan on Kashmir, owing to its irrational policies.” The Pakistan government, he said, was not in a position to assert its stance over Kashmir because of a number of U-turns on the issue.
About the release of detainees by the coalition government of Mufti Saeed, Mr Khan said, the motive was not less than a sugar-coated poison to win over the support of the families concerned.
“We should not pin high hopes on this new government as all its members have taken an oath of allegiance to the Indian Constitution,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Altaf Qadir said Mufti Saeed would not be able to sustain the good will of the people by releasing detainees, providing reliefs and scrapping POTA, unless institutions were changed.
“The elections have brought no major change in public mood as their yearning for freedom is still undiminished,” he maintained.
“Our history is rich in peaceful co-existence, but our image is being portrayed as the killers of innocent people,” he said.
“The international community never subjected India to accountability for its unchecked human rights abuse in the occupied Kashmir as we could not properly project our cause,” Mr Qadir said.
He criticized the Pakistan government for, what he called, its unpredictability in Kashmir policies. Pakistan, he said, called for tripartite talks, but when the time came, it excluded Kashmiri leadership. He underlined the need for genuine peace process that was result-oriented.
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