LAHORE, Dec 15: Differences between the two major ARD components, the PPP and the PML-N, on the status of freedom movement in occupied Kashmir and the kind of relations Pakistan should have with India came into the open on Monday when a PML(N) legislator issued a strong-worded statement which, apparently, was an attempt to distance his party from what Ms Benazir Bhutto said in New Delhi.

Kashmiris launched their struggle after incessant oppression by India and it would not be fair for anyone to accuse Pakistan of fighting a proxy war there, Khwaja Saad Rafiq said.

Had it not been so, he argued, India, too, could have stoked a similar movement in Azad Kashmir.

The PML-N leader said those fighting for the liberation of their motherland were called freedom fighters, not militants. On this principle, he maintained, the Kashmiri Mujahideen could not be branded as militants.

Mr Rafiq said UN resolutions offered an ideal solution to the Kashmir dispute and former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright had also supported this point of view while speaking at a seminar in New Delhi. He asked the organizers of a referendum in East Timor as to why they were reluctant to hold a similar exercise for the people of Kashmir.

The PML-N leader said Pakistan and India were one before the partition and the two countries could improve their relations in the future. But, he made it clear that the two could not reunite as they were separate entities in all respects.

The PML-N, he said, had nothing to do with those talking of a common currency or presidency for the two countries.

He said Mian Nawaz Sharif was the only leader who had held talks with India to settle disputes in a dignified manner. But those who had sabotaged his mission by planning a Kargil adventure were now beseeching India to agree to come to a negotiating table.

Referring to the fencing of the LoC by India, Khwaja Saad said the opportunity had been provided by the Pakistan government by its unilateral ceasefire. The initiative taken by the rulers would adversely affect the Pakistan army and strengthen the hands of that of India’s.

He said the unilateral ceasefire had given the Indian army a free hand to kill the Kashmiris and hold picnic parties at Siachen. He asked the rulers why they had not taken parliament into confidence before taking such an important policy decision. He alleged that the rulers were trying to please the United States in an attempt to perpetuate themselves in power.

SEMINAR: The PML-N is holding a seminar at the Press Club on Dec 16 to mark the Dhaka fall.