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

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ISLAMABAD, May 27: The political and religious parties of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir have rejected the proposal of division of Kashmir and stressed a result-oriented dialogue to resolve the issue peacefully.

The politicians and religious leaders were speaking at a national seminar on ‘Indo-Pakistan dialogue and future of Kashmir’ here on Monday.

Speaking at the seminar, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) secretary general, Moulana Fazalur Rehman, said the rulers of India and Pakistan had always used Kashmir issue for their personal or organizational interests.

“Army is against the solution of Kashmir issue and the military elites are well aware that once this issue is resolved it will be an end to their privileges.

“The US wants to divide state of Jammu Kashmir into three parts. It wants to include Jammu and Ladakh in India and Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan while Kashmir will remain an independent state,” he said.

About the dialogue between India and Pakistan, he said the process should be started from the point where it was left in Agra. “Agra Summit was not a failure but it was left in the midway,” he said.

The Kargil issue, Mr Rehman said had damaged the image of Pakistan on international level. The Lahore Declaration was an effort of political government while Kargil was a misadventure of the army, he added.

“The Kargil war was initiated by the army and later it appealed to the political government to stop the war,” he said.

The MMA leader said, in 1971, elections were held under a Legal Framework Order which resulted in the fall of Dhaka and now once again the national integrity was being harmed.

Former AJK prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan said the Kashmiris were not ready to accept the Line of Control (LoC) as an international boundary. “Division of Kashmir is not a solution of the issue. But it will further aggravate the situation”, he said.

“The Pakistan government should tell us that they are helpless and they have adopted a retreat,” Sardar Qayyum said.

“We are not against dialogue. But any dialogue in which Kashmiris were not included,” he said.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said: “There is no question of any sort of bargain on Kashmir issue.”