Pakistan

Pakistan incomplete without Kashmir: political leaders

Rashid says some powers sabotage peace initiatives

Photo: Mudassar Raja/shabbir Hussain/Naveed Jamal February 03, 2016

PHOTO: PID

ISLAMABAD: The political leaders of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Wednesday called for finding a solution to the longstanding Kashmir dispute in light of the UN resolutions as they said Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir.

They also reiterated their resolve to raise voice at international forums to ensure the Kashmiris get their right to self-determination. This resolve was made during ‘Kashmir Solidarity Seminar’ held under the auspices of Express Media Group.

AJK will remain with Pakistan, says former Indian-occupied Kashmir CM

The seminar was attended by Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, AJK’s former prime minister Sardar Attique Ahmed, Senator Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qayum Khan, PTI MNA Ali Muhammad Khan and AJK minister Abdul Majid Khan.Addressing the seminar, Pervaiz Rashid said all the nations of the world and the UN accept that the Kashmir issue should be resolved according to the aspirations of the people of the disputed state.

“This reality has also been accepted by India’s political leadership which was compelled to visit Lahore. They [the Indian leadership] have expressed their willingness to find a logical solution of the problem,” he said.

Rashid said that in the past the two neighbouring countries came very close to the resolution of the lingering dispute multiple times but always some unseen powers struck at the last moment and succeeded in sabotaging the whole initiative.

Kashmir may never become a part of Pakistan

“This time the same history was repeated as Pakistan and India were ready to resume their comprehensive dialogue when the Pathankot incident occurred and resultantly the whole process was affected,” said the minister. Rashid said Pakistan’s government, political parties and the whole nation stood by the people of Kashmir and have highlighted the issue at all the international forums.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who also heads the National Assembly Kashmir Committee, said the only way to the resolution of the Kashmir problem was implementation on the UN resolutions. He said Kashmir should be the focal point of Pakistan’s foreign policy.

The JI chief Sirajul Haq said Kashmir is not just a problem of the people of the valley but an issue related to the whole Pakistani nation and the Muslim world.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2016.

COMMENTS (10)

S.R.H. Hashmi | 8 years ago | Reply If Pakistan is incomplete, it is so in qualitative terms: the near-complete absence of honest, competent, unbiased and clear-headed leadership, and definitely not in geographical terms. The muddled thinking of the leadership is also quite implicit in the fact that we lost East Pakistan, which had more than half of Pakistani population, but do not feel any worse for it, and yet consider ourselves incomplete because of India occupying part of Kashmir, which was never ever in our possession anyway. We have got to remember that making Kashmir a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan – soluble only through negotiations between India and Pakistan, or at any other forum to which both countries agreed – was the price Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto paid to secure release of 93,000 of our soldiers taken prisoner by India. And the international community has lost all interest in Kashmir and is tilted more towards India because of its sheer size and the massive market it offers. And we lack power to snatch Indian-held Kashmir by force, and even if we made a dash and occupied part of it, we can’t continue to retain it as the Kargil episode clearly showed. At the same time, because pf the repercussion such a move could have in India, no Indian leader would be prepared to relinquish control on any part of Kashmir in its possession. The leaders have talked about several attempts when Indian and Pakistani governments came close to a solution of Kashmir, but they failed to mention that the proposed solution was more line with the suggestions made by Dr. Farooq Abdullah recently, which clearly stated that none of the two countries can acquire any more of Kashmir than it already had. So, the Pakistani leaders would do a favour to themselves, and indeed to Pakistan and Pakistanis, by making the best of what they already have, instead of just crying for the moon endlessly and, may I say, deceitfully, because they also know, or ought to know, what the reality of the situation is, By continuing to demand the impossible, they deprive Kashmiris in IOK even of the improvement in living conditions which could be brought about through a practical solution which could also ease cross-border movement and trade between the two Kashmirs. Karachi

Sharath Chandra | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan to have any case over Kashmir should first offer all Indian Muslims in India to migrate to Pakistan and the Indian Muslims should accept it to prove that the two nation theory has any credibility.

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SKN | 8 years ago | Reply So far we have failed to give equal rights to our very own provinces and we are worried about Kashmir. Pure political rubbish.

PrakashG | 8 years ago | Reply If this is the state of affairs of the incomplete Pakistan, I shudder to think of the consequences if it ever gets completed.

vcbhutani | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan as an idea was inherently unsound. 1971 was an eloquent proof. If Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir, then nothing on earth can 'complete' Pakistan. It will have to learn to live an incomplete life.

Aakashvaani | 8 years ago | Reply If Pakistan continues to harbor this handic ap, I'm afraid you are going to remain on crutches forever. But remember, Worldbank have only got so many pairs to loan....

vinsin | 8 years ago | Reply Then why Pakistan rejected J&K when Sardar offered? Why Pakistan rejected Kashmir Valley when Nehru offered? People who are supposed to vote in UN resolution are already dead. when Pakistan is planning to move army according to UN resolution? JI - Maududi was against J&K as part of Pakistan.

Char Latan | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan is also incomplete without foreign loan.

someone | 8 years ago | Reply Man...Could not keep East Pakistan along and dreaming about Kashmir. Funny people. By the way by what logic Pakistan claims Kashmir?

BlackHat | 8 years ago | Reply Isn't Pakistan incomplete without Bangladesh (East Pakistan)? Nobody seems to be missing the Bengalis! What is with this pining for something one never had but hardly shedding a tear for something that was lost? Won't Pakistan be incomplete without Balochistan or Sindh? Wasn't Pakistan incomplete right from the start and wasn't that why Jinnah called it "moth eaten"!?

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