ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of Special Committee on Kashmir, Syed Fakhar Imam, on Friday welcomed the statement of US President Donald Trump who reiterated his offer to mediate on the long-standing issue of Kashmir, a bone of contention between India and Pakistan.

In his press talks at the White House on Thursday, Mr Trump reiterated his offer to mediate on the Kashmir dispute.

Talking to reporters in his chamber at the Parliament House, Mr Imam said representatives of Kashmiris must be taken on board if India and Pakistan sat on the table for a dialogue.

Mr Imam said that the second statement of President Trump on the Kashmir issue was a clear indication that the US seriously wanted to get the issue resolved to ensure peace in South Asia.

He said no US president had ever issued such a statement in the past.

“Statements of Mr Donald Trump are a silver lining for resolution of the Kashmir dispute,” Mr Imam said.

The Kashmir committee chairman said that following the statement of the US president, India should revisit its stance on the Kashmir dispute and come for talks with Pakistan.

He said the US had now realised that war between the two nuclear-armed countries would bring massive devastation and destruction in both countries and dialogue was the only option to avert such a catastrophe.

Mr Imam said that India had crossed all limits of tyranny and human rights violations in India-held Kashmir as about 100,000 Kashmiris had been martyred, thousands of women raped and hundreds of others lost their eyesight due to use of pellet guns by Indian security forces.

AJK president

President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Masood Khan also welcomed Mr Trump’s fresh offer of mediation on the Kashmir issue and said the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan would co-operate with the US president’s initiative.

Talking to the media at the Jammu & Kashmir House, the AJK president regretted that India had once again rejected the offer.

He said that the US should persuade India to discuss the matter with Pakistan on the table instead of trying to resolve the matter through military means.

Mr Khan was of the view there was a new opportunity of peace for the people of South Asia, including those living in Jammu and Kashmir.

“I appeal to political forces and civil society of India to change the Indian government’s myopic ‘No’ into a ‘Yes’ for diplomacy,” he said.

Mr Khan said that the Kashmir dispute had three parties: Pakistan, India and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019