LoC tensions: Minister blames Indian army, agencies for flare-up

Barjees Tahir calls for reversing the Musharraf-era Kashmir policy.

ISLAMABAD:

The federal minister for Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan has alleged that India’s army and intelligence agencies have created the current flare-up along the Line of Control (LoC) to sabotage a scheduled prime-ministerial meeting next month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“Such disruptions in the peace process will obstruct Pakistan’s policy change and endeavour,” Chaudhry Barjees Tahir told The Express Tribune in an interview. He also welcomed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s mediation offer on the decades-long Kashmir dispute and called for a change in Pakistan’s policy.

Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf changed Pakistan’s Kashmir policy and took a bilateral approach towards the dispute’s resolution, he said but added that Islamabad should steer towards the United Nations resolutions and take the multilateral route.

Tahir blamed the intelligence agencies and armies of both the countries for nullifying attempts made by the respective governments to normalise relations. “Former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Pakistan in 1999 and the ensuing Lahore Declaration served as a glimmer of hope.” However, the Kargil conflict and the toppling of Sharif’s government put a halt to the détente, he added. “But this time, the Indian side is to blame.”



The minister assured that Pakistan would take up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir to international forums. “We believe the Kashmir issue should be resolved under the 1948 UN Security Council resolution and Kashmiris should have their right to self-determination through a plebiscite,” he emphasised. The stance of Sharif’s government is that the UNSC resolutions are still valid and Kashmir is not a bilateral issue.

On measures being taken to normalise the situation, he said both countries’ directors general of military operations were in contact with each other and he hoped the matter will be resolved at their level.

AJK govt to complete tenure

The federal minister vowed that the incumbent Pakistan Peoples Party-led Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government will complete its tenure and the federal government will not support any effort to remove it. “We want an efficient and corruption-free government. We have asked our people (the local chapter of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) not to be part of any movement to remove the state government”.

When some members of the state’s legislative assembly moved a no-confidence motion against AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Majeed, Tahir said he intervened on the directions of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2013.