7, April 2005	Thursday	27 Safar 1426

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MUZAFFARABAD, April 6: AJK based political and religious parties on Wednesday supported the confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan, but simultaneously made it clear that the bus service was neither solution to Kashmir problem nor substitute to the right to self determination. A conference of the leaders and representatives of nearly a dozen political and religious parties was held at the PM House here and presided over by Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat. from the bus service, human rights violations in held Kashmir should end and civil liberties should be restored besides the withdrawal of the Indian forces, the meeting demanded.

It demanded of the governments of Pakistan and India to settle the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiris for peace, prosperity and security in the region.

The meeting also expressed the hope that the militant groups would not take any step harming the lives and belongings of the passengers of bus service, which would provide India any excuse to defame the freedom movement and get it linked with terrorism.

Participants of the meeting supported the idea of the AJK PM that there should also be air service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar. Mr Hayat told the meeting that he had also discussed this idea with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at his recent meeting with him.

A suggestion by Syed Yousaf Nasim that truck service between the two parts of Kashmir should also be launched also received support of the participants. Truck service meant opening of trade routes between the two parts.

PAJK secretary-general told the meeting that the reopening of Muzaffarabad-Srinagar road was initially suggested by his party’s chairperson Benazir Bhutto four years ago. Had this been implemented at that time, Kashmiris could have evaded the losses suffered by them in the past four years.

Those who attended included were former prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, Muslim Conference president Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, Jammu Kashmir Liberation League president Abdul Majid Malick, APHC (Ansari) leader Syed Yousaf Nasim, Jamaat-i-Islami AJK vice-president Nurul Bari, JKLF (Yasin) leader Rafiq Dar, Jamiat Ahle Hadith acting amir Maulana Shahabuddin Madni, JUI AJK senior vice-president Maulana Nazir Farooqi, Jamiat Ulemae Azad Kashmir president Attiqur Rehman Faizpuri MLA and PM’s adviser on political affairs Raja Farooq Haider.