Objections raised: Provincial status for G-B will dent Kashmir cause: AJK PM

Chaudhry Abdul Majeed says move will not help Kashmir cause at int’l level

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed on Wednesday urged the government of Pakistan to avoid making Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) the fifth province of the country.

“Making G-B a province will dent the Kashmir cause at the international level,” Majeed warned, while addressing a press conference here on Wednesday.

He said G-B was part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and it should not be given the provincial status till the final settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

The prime minister said that the government of AJK would not support any attempt to make G-B a province. “If it happened then both the Kashmiri leadership and Islamabad may face various problems at the international and diplomatic levels in defending the Kashmir cause in perspective of the ongoing liberation movement in the Indian-administered Kashmir,” he said.

Majeed, while referring to a book authored by former Indian spy chief, said the allegations levelled by former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief AS Dulat were baseless and a bundle of lie. He said India was facing a tough time in Kashmir as the liberation movement was gaining popularity day-by-day among the youth and Pakistani flags were being waved regularly in public rallies in the Indian Kashmir.

He alleged that Dulat was involved in the killing of innocent Kashmiri civilians and freedom activists during his tenure as RAW chief.

Majeed said that All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) was the real and true platform for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that the former spy chief of India had no right to defame the ongoing liberation movement’s heroes such as the APHC leaders.

Majeed said India should release all political prisoners and allow APHC leaders to hold public rallies that would show to the world either Kashmiris were happy with India or they wanted freedom.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2015.