RAWALPINDI: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said here today [Aug 16] that there was nothing harmful for Kashmiris in the constitutional formula for Azad Kashmir announced on June 10 last. He was addressing a special meeting of the Working Committee of All-Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, Azad Kashmir’s ruling party. … The Prime Minister said the formula, evolved in a conference of Kashmiri leaders held under his chairmanship, would promote rather than harm the Kashmir people’s struggle for their right to self-determination.

He asked the Muslim Conference Working Committee to accept the formula … “if you want to further democracy and infuse new life into the Kashmir issue”. Premier Bhutto said no pressure had been exerted on the leaders of Kashmiri political parties who attended the June 10 meeting … and there was no ill intention behind the formula stipulating parliamentary system of governance for Azad Kashmir and a 13-member council headed by the Pakistan Prime Minister. He said he was not prepared to exert any such pressure because a formula reached in such circumstances could only be interim and not lasting and would be harmful for the country.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2024