ISLAMABAD, June 13: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here on Monday said human rights violations were still going on in Kashmir and the region was in the grip of many problems which needed to be addressed positively to give Kashmiris their rights to live with peace and honour and achieve development. “The Kashmir issue is not a 100-meter dash but a marathon and needs stamina, direction and passion to be solved. You can find all these things in Pakistan to solve this issue positively,” Mr Aziz said to a gathering on the occasion of a photo exhibition highlighting the woes of Kashmiri people and their freedom struggle.

The exhibition had been organized by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) to highlight the woes of Kashmiris.

Chairman Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik had also placed registers at the exhibition asking people to enter their addresses and signatures in it to support the involvement of Kashmiris in the on-going peace process.

Before inviting the prime minister to the podium, Yasin Malik had reminded Mr Aziz not to consider the people in those photographs as mere faces but each face in the photographs had its own story to tell and demanded that the Kashmir issue must be solved according to the wishes of Kashmiris.

The prime minister said he knew that every face and eye carried a message that the people of Kashmir wanted their problems solved according to their wishes.

The prime minister said it was a reality that there were three parties to the issue of Kashmir — Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris— and the on-going peace process must keep in view the concerns and viewpoints of all the three parties to reach any conclusion.

Pakistan would continue to support the struggle of Kashmiris, he said.