December 07, 2006	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 15, 1427

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MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 6: AJK Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan on Wednesday supported President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s offer to India that Pakistan was ready to give up its claim on Kashmir if India responded in like manner.

“The president’s offer reflects his insight and sagacity and should not be misconstrued," said the AJK premier, when asked by some reporters to comment on the president's offer which he made in an interview to India's NDTV.

Sardar Attique said that Gen Musharraf was working with zeal and sincerity for peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue and the people of the divided region and their representatives and the international community agreed to his stand in this regard.“His policy has received international appreciation and lays a strong base for amicable and acceptable-to-all settlement of the lingering dispute,” he said.

He said that India wanted to impose visa conditions on Kashmiris (for trans-LoC traveling) and created unnecessary hurdles in opening of crossing points along the dividing line, but since ours’ was the just stand it had to withdraw its conditions.Sardar Attique urged India to show moral courage and accept the ground realities regarding Kashmir, and create a violence free atmosphere in the region to pave way for peaceful settlement of the issue.

Jamaat-i-Islami Azad Kashmir chief Sardar Ejaz Afzal Khan condemned Gen Musharraf’s proposals and questioned his credentials to decide about the future of freedom-seeking Kashmiris.

“Kashmiris are not sheep and goat which any herdsman can sell or dole out at his own will. They have been shedding blood for the past 59 years for freedom from India and not for the things which the military dictator has been consistently proposing to please India and America,” he said.

He said that Gen Musharraf was an employee of the government of Pakistan and instead of safeguarding the interests of others, he should do it for the country which was bearing huge expenditures on him from the poor taxpayers' money.

The Jamaat leader asked the people of occupied Kashmir not to lose heart in the wake of Gen Musharraf’s interview, “because neither the people of Pakistan nor its armed forces were behind the proposals.”