MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Mohammad Masood Khan has presented a six-point agenda for Kashmiris living on either side of the Line of Control (LoC), for self determination and a subsequent peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with United Nations resolutions.

Elaborating on his agenda in a statement issued on Sunday, Mr Khan underlined the need for unity and harmony in AJK and the strengthening of contacts and coordination with pro-freedom leadership across the divide.

Maintaining that the US administration, US Congress, European Union and European Parliament were exponents of international law and the Kashmir cause was in limbo because of them, Mr Khan said the Kashmiris would also take their narrative to them and ask them to discourage India’s bellicose jingoism in held Kashmir and support the reality that Kashmir, being an internationally recognised dispute, needed immediate settlement in the interest of global peace.

“We will also repeatedly knock on the doors of the UN, Human Rights Council and other relevant global forums to divert their attention towards Kashmir,” he said.

The AJK president, who has spent three decades in the Pakistani foreign service, said the UN was duty bound to implement its resolutions on Kashmir.

He said since India was not prepared to accept mediation, the UN secretary-general should use his good office and appoint a special emissary for Kashmir without waiting for consent from India. “If special representatives can be appointed for other regions, why not the one for Kashmir,” he asked.

The AJK president also called upon India to resume parleys with Pakistan without further ado and hold composite dialogue on Kashmir. “Kashmir should not figure as a component of agenda but the only agenda for bilateral talks,” he said.

The AJK president also urged the political and civil society of India to help stop their government and troops from perpetrating massacres of innocent and unarmed people in held Kashmir with impunity.

The president also urged the political parties, civil society and media in AJK to extend full cooperation for the implementation of the agenda.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2016