ISLAMABAD, May 4: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq on Wednesday criticized the Kashmir policy of the rulers and said he did not believe the official claim that the Pakistan-India peace process was irreversible.

Explaining the reason for his disbelief, Mr Haq said so far there had been no development towards the resolution of the Kashmir dispute and peace could not be ensured in the region till the solution of the core issue.

The PML-N chairman was speaking at a news conference at the party’s central secretariat. The PML-N information secretary, Siddiqul Farooque, and the former MPA from Sahiwal, Nadeem Kamran, were also present

Mr Haq also held the government responsible for a division in the leadership of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on the issue of ongoing peace process. The PML-N leader said he had held telephonic conversation with Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Gillani, who was perturbed over the developments taking place in the name of peace process.

The PML-N leader said despite having different point of views, the APHC leaders were united on one platform. However, he said, wrong policies of the Pakistani regime and announcement of unilateral confidence building measures (CBMs) had created doubts in the minds of the Kashmiri leadership thus causing a division.

Mr Haq said first Gen Musharraf failed to achieve anything from his Agra visit due to his stubborn attitude and received criticizm from all circles on his return from India. In an effort to compensate his mistakes in Agra, he said now Gen Musharraf had taken a complete U-turn on the Kashmir issue.

The PML-N chairman said India had erected a fence on the Line of Control, which meant that Kashmir had been divided. He said the announcement by Gen Musharraf that there was no need for the UN resolutions had encouraged the Indian leaders who had been claiming that Pakistan had now realized its mistake of supporting the UN-backed plebiscite in Kashmir. He also criticized Gen Musharraf’s remarks that Kashmir could be divided into seven parts. “Kashmir is not a sacrificial cow”, he added.

Mr Haq claimed that the Pakistan and Indian governments had been treating Wagah border as Berlin Wall and talking about its removal. He said Wagah was an internationally recognized border between the two countries and it had no resemblance whatsoever with the Berlin Wall.

The PML-N leader claimed that no civil or military government in the past ever gave any relief to India on the Kashmir issue. He further claimed that India was still carrying out targeted killings in the Held Valley but the Pakistani government and the Foreign Office were silent over it.

Mr Haq said it was India’s desire to make the Kashmir dispute a bilateral issue. He said the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had stated during his recent visit to India that there was no need to appoint UN observers on the LoC in Kashmir.

The PML-N leader asked all political parties and politicians to take notice of the situation, as the country’s security was in danger due to wrong policies of the rulers.