May 28, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25,1424

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PESHAWAR, May 27: Leaders of various political parties have asked the government to convene a joint sitting of parliament and hold a discussion on resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India.

Speaking at a seminar on “Pakistan-India relations and the new move” at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday, leaders of Jamaat-i-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Awami National Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) had assured the government that they would extend a helping hand to it if it summon parliament and discuss restoration of relations with India.

The leaders underlined the need for developing a consensus on national issues irrespective of political differences. They urged the government to take parliament into confidence on the issue of negotiations with India.

Speaking on the occasion, former president and chief of Millat Party Farooq Leghari advised the government to initiate meaningful talks with India for the resolution all issues, including the Kashmir dispute, as no other option was left with both the countries to resolve their problems.

He said: “No respectable nation strikes a deal at the cost of its existence. But, now, Pakistan has a sort of deterrent and it can sort out differences on bilateral basis. Pakistan has no role in the indigenous freedom movement of the Kashmiri people, who opted for an armed struggle in 1989 to get their freedom.”

Mr Leghari lashed out at the so-called jihadi organizations and their Pakistan-based mentors for causing a damage to the freedom movement in occupied Kashmir.

The religious leadership in Pakistan, who missed no opportunity in making tall claims about their operations in the valley, were responsible for the plight of the Kashmiri people, he charged.

Mr Leghari said the self-destruction propaganda fanned by the so-called Pakistan-based jihadi groups had maligned the just struggle of the Kashmiri people. He said Pakistan, too, had failed at the diplomatic front in making the world community realize the reign of terror let loose by occupation forces in held valley.

The former president said successive governments in Pakistan had pursued a consistent policy on the Kashmir issue. He dispelled the impression that PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto had caused any damage to the Kashmir cause as was propagated by certain quarters.

He called for restoration of direct trade with India, which according to him, was necessary to get rid of multinationals’ stranglehold on the region. In spite of a stand-off between the two countries, Pakistan was doing $1.5 billion trade with India.

Central leader of JUI Hafiz Hussain Ahmed asked the government to send a delegation of elderly politicians from the NWFP and Balochistan on a goodwill visit to India for paving the way for meaningful talks.

He said: “We have asked the JUI Hind to play its role and advised the government to issue visa to Indian Ulema to visit Islamabad, but the foreign office denied visa except to one or two Muslim leaders.”

He also opposed an American plan to create an independent state within the limits of held Kashmir on the lines of Israel. He said it was a clever move by the US to create a satellite state to monitor China.