December 22, 2003	Monday	Shawwal 27, 1424

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MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 21: The ruling Muslim Conference on Sunday expressed concern over Pakistan’s offer for alternatives to a UN- sponsored plebiscite in the occupied Kashmir.

“This offer is an exceptional deviation from the known categorical stand adopted by President Pervez Musharraf ever since assuming power,” Muslim Conference’s Secretary-General and AJK minister for finance and rehabilitation Shah Ghulam Qadir said.

Participants of a meeting of the party’s working committee, which was held the other day with Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan in the chair, had resolved that “without (obtaining) any international guarantee and without prior consultations with Kashmiris such offers should be avoided.”

“We fear that India can as usual take undue advantage of the fresh unilateral offer as it has done earlier by resorting to fencing of the Line of Control after the unilateral ceasefire offer.”

He reminded Islamabad that by putting aside the United Nations Resolutions on Kashmir, its position as a party to the dispute would suffer.

“The UN resolutions provide a basis for the process that can lead to the peaceful settlement of the issue,” he said.

“Withdrawal from their right to self-determination is something out of question for the Kashmiris and a lasting and practicable solution in accordance with their wishes is possible on the basis of the UN Resolutions,” he said, adding, any efforts by putting those resolutions aside would prove to be a futile exercise.

The ruling party also called on both the countries to “facilitate large-scale people-to-people contacts without the restriction of passports and visas,” he said.

Meanwhile, a representative body of Kashmiri journalists has also urged President Musharraf to withdraw his offer regarding the plebiscite in Kashmir.

“This change in Pakistan’s stand seems to be a major retreat ... The president should withdraw his new stand to eliminate the feeling of unrest among the Kashmiris,” the executive committee of the AJK Union of Journalists said in a resolution adopted on Sunday.

The executive committee meeting was chaired by the AJKUJ president Naz Butt Naji.

“The UN resolutions justify Kashmiris’ stand and struggle. Bringing this legitimate stand at par with India’s bogus and false claims on Kashmir is unfair and a great injustice to the Kashmiris.”