LAHORE, Feb 23: Azad Kashmir former president and prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan says any solution to the Kashmir dispute worked out as a result of talks between Pakistan, India and the Kashmiri leaders will be better than the one to be found through a plebiscite under the UN resolutions.

He told Dawn here on Wednesday that while a plebiscite could mean victory for one party and defeat for the other, a mutually negotiated settlement would be a triumph for everybody.

Plebiscite, the AJK Muslim Conference former chief said, provided a way to ascertain the opinion of Kashmiri people on both sides of the Line of Control, and in case the Kashmiris expressed their opinion through any other mechanism it would be as good as a plebiscite.

He admitted that the military wing of the freedom movement had slowed down its activities in occupied Kashmir, but claimed that it had already given much more results than were expected from it.

He said since the Kashmir dispute could not be resolved militarily, the reduction in the militancy would not adversely affect the freedom movement. Sardar Qayyum said freedom was very dear to the Kashmiri people and India would never be able to crush their movement.

He rejected the suggestion that President Musharraf was not giving as much importance to the Kashmir issue as he had given it after overthrowing the PML government in October 1999.

In his opinion the president had changed the strategy on Kashmir to meet the requirements of the emerging situation, but the centrality of the dispute was there. He alleged that after prime minister Vajpayee's visit to Lahore in 1999, the PML government had decided to put the Kashmir issue on the back burner, giving more importance to other issues.

About the decision by Pakistan and India to start Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service from April 7, the Kashmiri leader said though it appeared a small step it was nothing short of an achievement.

He said the Indian government should be credited for taking such a bold decision, which he believed would lead to many other confidence-building measures in the future.

He urged the two countries to be watchful of the intriguers who were out to have the decision reversed. The Kashmiri leader said it would be more realistic for the two countries to take more interim confidence-building steps rather than going for a lasting solution of the dispute at this juncture. He proposed that more travel routes should be opened.

India, he said, should withdraw its troops from occupied Kashmir, release prisoners and let the Kashmiri leaders on both sides of the LoC meet freely. The AJK leader said once the process picked up momentum, skepticism would disappear and even those opposed to the bus service would change their views.

Replying to a question, Sardar Qayyum said India faced a number of problems while taking any initiative on the Kashmir issue and nobody should underestimate those difficulties. The two countries would gradually make headway to settle the dispute to the satisfaction of the Kashmiri people.

Answering another question, he said all steps being taken by the Pakistan government had the backing of all Kashmiri leaders. The government consulted the Kashmiri leaders at every stage, he concluded.