LARKANA: The Foreign Minister, Mr Z.A. Bhutto, said that the question of Kashmir concerned the entire nation and with its resolution were bound the safety and integrity of Pakistan itself.

In a statement issued here tonight [Feb 9], he reiterated the Government’s policy on Kashmir saying that a just and honourable settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue remained the only path towards the goal of a lasting peace and a relationship of true cordiality between India and Pakistan.

He said it was at no time asserted that the Tashkent Declaration constituted a settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. The Tashkent Declaration, he added, provides yet another frame-work within which the pursuit for a just and honourable solution of the Kashmir dispute would be continued.

Mr Bhutto re-stated that the Declaration is to be judged in its totality and against the historic background of Pakistan’s struggle for justice in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Foreign Minister also said: “In the face of war the people of Pakistan gave the world an example of unity. Today we are faced with the more difficult challenge of peace. I am convinced in facing this challenge we shall show faith and firmness of purpose”.

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies from London,] Premier Wilson, speaking in a Commons debate on South East Asia last night, defended his stand during last year’s war between India and Pakistan.

In a statement in September last Mr Wilson had publicly disapproved India crossing her international boundary with Pakistan and the offensive against Lahore.

Mr Wilson dealt with Anglo-Indian relations, which Mr Edward Heath, Leader of the Conservative Opposition, in opening the debate, had said had got worse. The Prime Minister said Mr Heath was quite right.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2016