April 01, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1429

KARACHI, March 31: The Supreme Commander of the Muttahida Jehad Council and the Hizbul Mujahideen Kashmir, Syed Salahuddin, has said that Kashmiri Mujahideen can give up armed struggle if Indian government agrees to hold tripartite negotiations and to find a solution for the Kashmir issue on the basis of UN resolutions.

Addressing a news conference at the Idara Noor-i-Haq on Monday, he said the Kashmiri people would not accept the formula for Kashmir’s division or internal autonomy for the disputed region.

Syed Salahuddin said Mujahideen had earlier rejected two ceasefire offers of former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpai. He claimed that their movement was about to succeed when what he called the apologetic attitude of the then Pakistani government had caused irreparable loss to the Kashmir cause.

He said Kashmiris were peace-loving people but Indian atrocities compelled them to launch a struggle. Peaceful struggle for the implementation of the UN resolution had been continued for 42 years but when Indian government tried to crush the Kashmiri people by force they were left with no choice but to take up arms in 1989, he added.