ISLAMABAD: PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has called for an inquiry into what he has described as the soft stance of former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf on Kashmir issue.

“It needs to be investigated as to why Musharraf chose to deviate from Pakistan’s principled position (on the matter) and that too behind the back of Kashmiris and the people of Pakistan,” the former president said in a statement issued in Dubai on Friday.

He expressed concern over media reports that Mr Musharraf “secretly sought to barter away the rights of Kashmiris” without reference to the parliament and people of the disputed region.

Know more: Musharraf agreed in 2000 to low-key UN resolutions on Kashmir: US cable

“The reports that Musharraf agreed to ignore UN resolutions on Kashmir are most disturbing and the motives behind the dictator’s secret moves must be probed,” the PPP leader said.

Mr Zardari said that successive governments, even while seeking to normalise relations with India in other areas, had never given up on the principled stance on the UN resolutions.

He recalled that the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto had warned of disastrous consequences if the country unilaterally gave up its principled stance on Kashmir without quid pro quo. Responding to her apprehensions, the Musharraf regime had denied any move to ignore the UN resolutions.

The United States cables now made public under the country’s Freedom of Information Act, however, had revealed that the Musharraf regime’s denial was bogus, Mr Zardari said.

Any resolution of the Kashmir dispute must be based on the wishes of the people of Kashmir and the UN resolutions were key to it, he said.

KP BY-ELECTIONS: Former prime minister and PPP Secretary General Raja Pervez Ashraf has expressed apprehensions that the PTI-led coalition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa might be tempted to exert pressure on the administration in Upper Dir to manipulate the by-elections in the provincial assembly’s constituency of PK-93.

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, he said the ruling parties in the province would desperately seek to win the seat to avenge the embarrassment of deseating of its MPA by the Election Commission.

By-elections in PK-93, Upper Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have been scheduled for Sept 15. The electoral contest has turned out to be a straight fight between the ruling coalition in the province, represented by the Jamaat-i-Islami candidate, and the PPP, supported by the opposition parties, including the ANP, JUI and PML-N.

“As you are aware, the area of Dir is also plagued with serious law and order issues. Indeed it is infested with militancy, having witnessed a number of suicide and militants attacks in the recent past,” including one in which the brother of a Peoples Party MPA, Zamin Khan, died along with several other people, he said.

“The PPP apprehends that in its desperation the ruling coalition will be tempted to pressure the local administration to manipulate the election process and results.”

Mr Ashraf expressed the fear that “any attempt at manipulation by the ruling coalition is likely to provoke a backlash from the opposition parties that will only exacerbate the already precarious law and order situation in the area”.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015

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