May 27, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24,1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 26: Prime Minister of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan and chairman of the AJK’s parliamentary Kashmir Committee Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan will meet here on Tuesday (today) to define the AJK leadership’s stance on prospective Pakistan-India talks.

Sources said that the meeting had been necessitated as the AJK premier would leave for Tehran on Wednesday. He would participate as an observer in the meeting of the OIC’s contact group on Kashmir.

The two leaders are also likely to discuss the mandate, responsibilities and perks and privileges of the AJK parliamentary committee, which was formed last week to coordinate the efforts of raising the Kashmir issue on national and international foras on behalf of the AJK government.

Both the All-Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC) and the AJK government had been given the status of observers at the OIC contact group on Kashmir and both were invited to participate in their meetings.

A controversy had erupted between the Kashmiri leadership over the solution of Kashmir issue after the surfacing of the ‘Chenab formula.’

Sikandar Hayat, who opposed an independent Kashmir, announced his conditional support, saying he would support the proposal only if the division was based on religion.

The Kashmiri people and intelligentsia had reacted strongly against the formula, instead they had called for resolution of the Kashmir issue on the basis of UN resolutions and also called for keeping in view the aspirations of Kashmiris.

Meanwhile, the OIC’s contact group on Kashmir was likely to discuss the issue in the light of the flexible attitude of both Pakistan and India.