ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: The opposition leader in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Barrister Sultan Mehmud Chaudhry, on Thursday called upon India and Pakistan to include the Kashmiri leadership in their talks on Kashmir under the composite dialogue arrangement.

Speaking at a news conference, he said the Kashmiri people had welcomed the announcement that Pakistan and India would resume a composite dialogue on all issues, including the core issue of Kashmir, but they had reservations about the atmosphere in which the talks were suggested.

He maintained that no solution of the Kashmir issue could be durable and complete until the people living there were consulted and their opinion given due weightage.

The leader stressed that no solution could be acceptable to the people on the two sides of the Line of Control without the implementation of the United Nations resolutions passed in 1948 and 1949, calling for a plebiscite under international supervision.

He expressed reservations about the confidence-building measures being taken by the two countries for paving the way for a dialogue. He said the United States and the West wanted the Kashmir issue resolved not out of any sympathy with the Kashmiri people but to get rid of Pakistan's nuclear capability.

He said Kashmir was not a geopolitical issue but one related to the lives of people who were suffering at the hands of Indian hegemony. The AJK People's Party leader said India must withdraw its over 700,000 troops from the occupied territory to create the right atmosphere for the dialogue.