RAWALPINDI: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto today [June 21] reaffirmed his Government’s dedication to the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination and said there could be no compromise on this fundamental principle. “We remain committed to the right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir,” he declared at a large gathering … where the All-Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference merged into the Azad Kashmir People’s Party.

Mr Bhutto strongly criticised Opposition leaders for claiming that the Kashmir issue had been bypassed at the 1972 Simla meeting … and said in fact it were they (opposition) who had damaged the Kashmir issue which his Government was trying to resurrect. [He] said he had revived the Kashmir issue and had made it clear that it was the only issue left to be resolved between India and Pakistan following the settlement on other outstanding matters, and that on its settlement depended friendly relations between them. … He said if a veto had been given to India in the Simla accord, as alleged by the Opposition Muslim League, the Kashmir dispute would not have found a mention in the Simla accord as was the case in the Tashkent agreement. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2026