LAHORE, Oct 12: Suicide attacks in various parts of the country will continue till the Kashmir dispute is not settled to the satisfaction of the Kashmiri people, a former prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir said on Sunday.

Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry said while talking to Dawn that Pakistan’s national security and the Kashmir issue were interlinked and the government should explain to the elected representatives at a briefing scheduled for Monday as to whether it was pursuing the policy of the PML-Q government or had one of its own.

He alleged that India was involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan as it wanted to shift focus from the Kashmir issue.

The former AJK prime minister said ex-foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri had told the Kashmiri representatives at a meeting that the division of Kashmir had been agreed upon between Pakistan and India and the two sides were expected to sign it anytime.

The Kashmiri leader, who is also president of the AJK People’s Muslim League, disclosed that he had asked Foreign Minister Shah Mehmud Qureshi about the status of Mr Kasuri’s statement. Mr Qureshi, he said, did not deny what Mr Kasuri had said but said: “I am not aware of it.”

Hearing this, Barrister Sultan said, he told the foreign minister that the government should not keep the people in the dark and let the elected representatives know how the present coalition planned to resolve the Kashmir issue.

The former AJK premier was of the view that Pakistan’s national security problem would persist unless the Kashmiri people on both sides of the Line of Control were given their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN resolutions.

He said India would never let peace return to Pakistan to keep the lingering dispute on the backburner. However, he said, the situation would change immediately after the dispute was settled.

Answering a question about Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that the government was willing to talk to the APHC leaders, Barrister Sultan said it was aimed at conveying an impression to the world that the Kashmir was India’s internal issue and not an international one. However, he said, the Indian government would not succeed in its designs.

He claimed that his proposal for fresh elections in both Azad Kashmir and occupied Kashmir under the supervision of the United Nations and human rights organisations to ensure their fairness and transparency had been supported by various quarters. These elections, he said, would bring to the fore such people who would be mandated by the voters to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

According to him, the European parliament, Britain, Germany and Norway were willing to host an intra-Kashmir dialogue to settle the dispute on which Pakistan and India had fought three wars.

He said people of occupied Kashmir had been facing atrocities at the hands of Indian troops and now wanted peace without delay.

The Kashmiri leader demanded that India should withdraw its troops from all major cities of occupied Kashmir, rescind all ‘black laws’, release all political prisoners and allow all APHC leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani, to present their points of view at various international fora.