LAHORE, Jan 24: Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat sees no flexibility of approach on Pakistan stand on the Kashmir dispute despite “tremendous pressure”.
Speaking at a news conference here at the State Guest House on Friday, he said President Musharraf had made it clear in Agra and Kathmandu and during meetings with Azad Kashmir leaders that there was no change on the issue.
“And the appointment of a Kashmiri, Sardar Qayyum, as Kashmir committee chairman for the first time in Pakistan’s history provided an ample proof of this,” he said.
He said Islamabad had neither sought US mediation nor the latter had made any offer. Quoting Collin Powell, he said the US was ready to assist the two sides.
He expressed his ignorance about the ‘existence’ of any US plan for the future of Kashmir and said the world community was nonetheless convinced that militancy could not be stopped without rooting out its causes. “A majority of countries recognize Pakistan stand on Kashmir but they remain silent because of their interests in India.”
The AJK prime minister said the international community now wanted a resolution of the dispute because of the threat of a nuclear war between Pakistan and India that could destroy peace not only in the region but also in the entire world.
He denied crackdown on any jihadi outfits in Azad Kashmir. “The banned Jaish-i-Muhammad and the Lashkar-i-Taiba do not exist in Azad Kashmir and, therefore, there is no reason to go after them. Only an unrecognized outfit, Harkatul Islam, has been stopped from collecting funds,” he said.
He ruled out any ‘third option’ on Kashmir but proposed a tripartite forum for devising a new formula for resolution of the dispute.
He said accession of Kashmir as per the will of its people was a part of the partition of India and this right was given to all the independent states. And since the Kashmiri people’s indigenous struggle also revolved around the right to self-determination, there could not be any third or fourth option.
Sardar Sikandar said he belonged to the Muslim Conference which believed from the very outset that Kashmir should be a part of Pakistan. He said if the British rulers of India had not made it compulsory for all the independent states to join either New Delhi or Islamabad, there would have been hundreds of sovereign states and not the two countries.
He said if India agreed to withdraw its forces from Kashmir its people themselves would decide the future of their homeland. “Agreeing to any third option would mean that we have abandoned our long stand on the dispute for which we have been suffering a lot,” he said.
He agreed with a reporter that there should be a new formula to break the deadlock between the two countries on the issue but said this could be evolved only through a forum comprising representatives from Pakistan, India and Kashmir. This flexibility could be generated provided India agreed to a dialogue.
The Azad Kashmir prime minister said President Pervez Musharraf had already asked India that “we would have to consider our compulsions for moving towards a resolution of the dispute,” he said.
He said there were threats of an attack from India but it knew that invading Azad Kashmir was not an easy job.
Sardar Sikandar said no matter which party was banned the purely indigenous Kashmir freedom struggle would continue come what may. He differentiated between jihad and terrorism but said it remained a fact that jihad in Kashmir had highlighted the dispute in the world which now wanted its resolution. The dispute would be resolved through peaceful and political means, he said.
He said Pakistan had been accused of instigating the Kashmiris against India. But the reality was that the Kashmiris had been demanding independence much before the creation of Pakistan and the adoption of its resolution in 1940. Pakistan had a legitimate right to claim Muslim Kashmir because it itself was created as a result of the division of India on the basis of Two-Nation Theory.
He said the Kashmiris too wanted to join Pakistan by choice and it was wrong to assume that the freedom struggle would be stopped due to any reason. The people and government of Azad Kashmir would lend all support to the struggle and Pakistan too had been making it clear that it would not abandon the cause.
Sardar Sikandar said India itself had been committing worst kind of state terrorism against the Kashmiris who had left with no choice but to carry guns in the presence of oppressive laws.
He said like in the past the Kashmir Day would be observed with full vigour in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir on Feb 5 to show solidarity with the Kashmiris.