Aug 28 , 2015
News
Hurriyat delegation calls on Bilawal Bhutto, lauds PPP’s support on Kashmir
PPP chairman condemns Indian shelling at Line of Control, Working BoundaryISLAMABAD – A 20-member delegation of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) led by Ghulam Muhammad Safi along with Azad Jammu Kashmir President Sardar Muhammad Yaqub and Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majid on Friday called on Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto at the Zardari House.
Azad Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker Ghulam Muhammad Sadiq, Senior Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin, Finance Minister Chaudhry Latif Akbar were also present along with former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, PPP leaders Faryal Talpur, Sherry Rehman and Jamil Soomro.
– Key to a final settlement –
Speaking to the delegation, Bilawal said that his party believes that the people of Jammu Kashmir were a key to a final settlement of the decades-old issue and that PPP stands by them in their just struggle. He said that the resolution of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the people was also a key to peace in the region.
He said that it was also the PPP vision to take South Asia on to the path of peace and prosperity with respect and honour. “This path is through confidence building, conflict management and creation of a trading bloc of nations to improve the living conditions of all people of South Asia,” he added.
– Trade, people-to-people contacts –
He said that steps like appropriate confidence building measures, greater people-to-people contacts and enhanced trade were very much needed to create an atmosphere for durable peace in the region. He also pointed out that centrality of the Kashmir issue could not be sidelined or ignored.
The PPP chairman recalled that his party under the leadership of the late Benazir Bhutto succeeded in giving observer status to the Hurriyat Conference in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and proposed soft borders as far back as in 1999.
Earlier, the PPP introduced the South Asian Preferential Tariff Agreement as well as the concept of groups of people, like parliamentarians and judges, travelling in the SAARC countries without visas, he said. “Our party respects freedom and fundamental rights of all people. There can be no greater fundamental right than the right to franchise of a people,” he said.
– PPP condemns Indian shelling –
Bilawal condemned Indian shelling across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary in which several innocent lives were lost in nearby villages and called for respecting the ceasefire agreement. The Hurriyat delegation thanked Bilawal Bhutto for meeting them and said that the PPP had a history of supporting “our struggle and this support is widely appreciated in the state.”
Hurriyat representatives Yousuf Naseem, Mir Tahir Masood, Mahmood Saghar, Abdul Hameed Lone, Shafi Dar, Ijaz Butt, Shamim Shawl, Faiz Naqashbandi and others were also present in the meeting.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk