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Friday, July 30, 2010
India should talk with pakistan over Kashmir: Haqqani
* Pakistani ambassador to US says federal government committed to political, diplomatic, moral support of Kashmiri people
WASHINGTON: Pakistani Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani on Thursday renewed Pakistan’s support for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination and asked India to enter into result-oriented talks with Islamabad towards resolution of the decades-old Kashmir conflict.
“For us the most important thing is the rights of the Kashmiri people - we are committed to finding a resolution to the Kashmir dispute,” Haqqani said at an international conference at the Capitol Hill, the seat of the US Congress. Pakistan, he said, was serious about resolving the longstanding conflict and expects reciprocity from New Delhi, as Islamabad wanted good relations with its eastern nuclear-armed neighbour. “We look forward to a meaningful and result-oriented dialogue with India on Kashmir,” he added.
In addition to prominent Pakistani and Kashmiri experts, some leading Indian intellectuals and rights activists were participating in the 11th international conference on Kashmir but the genuine Kashmiri leaders from Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) had been denied permission by New Delhi to travel to Washington for the moot.
A number of Kashmiri leaders had been detained by Indian security forces in the wake of widespread protests in IHK during this month. In his speech, Ambassador Haqqani pointed out that Kashmir is not a territorial dispute. “It is about 12 to 14 million people of Kashmir, it is about Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, about killings, rapes, torture and mass graves,” Haqqani added in reference to mass human rights violations and repression in IHK.
The envoy also underscored the need for the international community to adopt a realistic approach to resolving South Asian disputes including that of Kashmir. The resolution to the Kashmir dispute would be in the interest of the teeming youth in South Asia’s 1.5 billion people, he said. Earlier, Haqqani told participants of the conference that for Pakistan, Kashmir remained an issue that “tugs at our heart.” “The Pakistani government is committed to continuing the political, diplomatic and moral support for the Kashmiri people,” he said at a dinner hosted by the Kashmiri-American Council. “We are interested in improving our relations with our much larger neighbour to the east but we want to do that in a manner in which the basic rights of the Kashmiri people and their right to choose their future course are protected and they will be able to make a choice that will bring peace to the region,” the ambassador said.
South Asia, he noted, had been described as the most dangerous place on earth. “The reason why it is dangerous is that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir has been allowed to fester for so long,” he remarked. The diplomat also observed that injustice promoted violence, which promoted injustice and it then becomes a vicious circle. “This is an occasion for everybody, the people of India, the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the people Pakistan and the people of the US to come together for the cause of peace in the region through resolution of disputes,” he added. Haqqani also drew India’s attention to improvement in Pak-Afghan ties. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk