Reading out a joint declaration approved by the APC soon after the conference, PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said holding plebiscite under the UN resolutions was the only way to resolve the problem.
“These resolutions have been endorsed not only by Pakistan and India but also by the entire international community and no individual can change them unilaterally,” the PML-N chairman said.
Mr Haq said the APC deplored the unconstitutional statements by the government officials and the members of ruling party unilaterally renouncing the UN resolutions. “It believes that unilateral declaration of options for resolution has undermined Pakistan’s principled position and the Kashmir’s struggle,” he added.
The PML-N chairman said the APC participants had deplored and expressed concern that parliament was not being taken into confidence on dialogue process. “Attempts to find a solution without taking the elected representatives into confidence has weakened the case of Pakistan and people of Kashmir at international level, and has also badly isolated Pakistan in the international community,” he said.
Mr Haq said it was a matter of deep concern that due to wrong policies of “non-elected and unrepresentative elements” the Kashmir issue was now being viewed as an issue of cross border infiltration and terrorism rather than an issue of the right of self-determination of the people.
The conference condemns grave violations of the fundamental human rights of the people of Kashmir, including assassinations, arson of houses and shops and gang rapes of innocent and modest Kashmiri women at the hands of Indian army and security forces, he said, adding that the APC called upon the international community to exercise its influence to immediately bring to an end this wave of repression against the people of Kashmir.
Mr Haq further said the storage and use of water of rivers in Kashmir in violation of the Indus Water Treaty had threatened the fertile lands of Pakistan. “The conference deplores that the present rulers in Pakistan have failed to firmly address the issue,” he said.
The conference, he said, was concerned over the reports that plans were afoot to turn the Line of Control into permanent international border. He said the conference believed that no despotic system could defend the country’s national interests.
“Attempts to deal with the Kashmir issue in a dictatorial manner and bypassing democratic institutions has further confounded the confusion to the detriment of Pakistan’s national interests,” he added.
Mr Haq declared that the APC believed in peace in the region and promotion of good neighbourly relations with all countries, including India. “We believe in resolving issues through dialogue and negotiations. We also believe that the peace dialogue must be based on national consensus to succeed,” he said.
The APC, he said, demanded that the dialogue process should be broadened to include in it the representatives of the people of Kashmir and elected institutions of Pakistan. The political parties of Pakistan must also be taken into confidence, he said.
“The conference express complete solidarity with the just struggle of the people of Kashmir and assures them that the people of Pakistan will continue to extend all diplomatic, political and moral support in their just struggle”, the PML-N leader declared.
Responding to a question, the PML-N chairman said a steering committee would soon be implemented to monitor the developments on the Kashmir issue and for the implementation of the joint declaration.
In response to another query, he said, that they neither welcomed nor condemned the launching of the Kashmir bus service.
The APC was attended by the representatives of some 50 political parties and different organizations of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, including the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Jamiat-i-Ulema-Islam (JUI-F), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP), Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Pakistan (Noorani), Azad Kashmir Muslim Conference (AKMC), Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party (JKPP) and the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
Prominent among those who attended the APC were ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar, PPP MNA Sherry Rehman, PPP Senator Enver Baig, PML-N secretary general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Maimoona Hashmi, Siddiqul Farooque, JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri (JUI-F), Prof Sajid Mir (Jamiat Al-Hadees), Senator Amaullah Kanrani (JWP), former ISI chief Hameed Gul, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan (AJKMC), Abdur RAshid Turrabi (AJK JI), Sardar Khalid Ibrahim (JKPP) and Amanullah Khan of the JKLF.