Minister lays out proposals to resolve Kashmir issue
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari on Wednesday laid out a set of proposals aimed at taking implementable steps to resolve the Kashmir issue.
She was speaking at a seminar on Youm-i-Tasees Day of Kashmir held at the Republic University College in Islamabad.
Dr Mazari said Pakistan should propose a solution to the Kashmir problem resembling the Irish peace accord.
She made it clear that she was not referring to any specific clause of the said accord but the broad concept on the basis of which the accord was signed and implemented.
Dr Mazari also referred to the East Timor independence based on the concept of self determination and said Pakistan should press the Kashmir case on these lines.
She also said Pakistan should ask the United Nations to document all the Kashmiris who qualified to vote in the referendum based on the UN resolutions whenever it took place.
She said such documentation needed to be done in India-held Kashmir and also of the Kashmiri diaspora across the world.
The minister said the citizens of Azad Jammu Kashmir had already been documented because they were participating in regular elections.
Ms Mazari condemned the brutal repression of innocent Kashmiris by India in India-held Kashmir.
She added that it was time for Pakistan to move beyond clichés and take concrete steps that put India on the defensive.
Such specific and well-argued steps would compel India to explain its refusals thereby exposing the weakness in its position on Kashmir and reaffirming the right of self determination for the Kashmiris.
The seminar was also addressed by defence analyst retired Lt Gen Amjad Shuaib and senior anchorpersons Dr Moeed Pirzada and Fahd Hussain.
Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2018
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