AJK PM calls for changes in Pakistan’s Kashmir policy

Raja Farooq Haider says economically powerful Pakistan can guarantee Kashmir’s independence

ISLAMABAD:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan has said that the future of Kashmir is linked to Pakistan, stressing the need for the country politicians and authorities to work out a future plan.

Addressing Meet the Press at the National Press Club, Haider called for changing Pakistan’s foreign policy regarding the Kashmir issue, otherwise, he warned, the dispute would continue to linger on for another 72 years.

“Kashmiris are the main party to the issue. Kashmiris must be allowed to present their case in the world and the world will listen to the Kashmiris,” Raja Farooq Haider Khan told the media. “Pakistan should trust us,” he added.

Haider said that New Delhi’s unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 regarding the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis’ masterstroke against Pakistan. Haider regretted that after August 5, 2019 the world powers did nothing.

He said that India’s population was much larger than Pakistan, while the country was also “the fifth largest economy” in the world. “If we want to move forward, we have to make Pakistan economically stable. An economically powerful Pakistan will guarantee Kashmir’s independence.”

The AJK prime minister stressed that the future of the Kashmiris depended on Pakistan. “We want to see Pakistan strong and stable in every way,” he said, adding however that the country could not “run like this”.