LAHORE, Nov 27: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed says an autonomous Kashmir is ‘not’ the solution to the long standing dispute between Pakistan and India, although Islamabad will accept any settlement which satisfies the Kashmiri people.

“The Pakistan government supports any solution acceptable to the people of Kashmir, but an autonomous Kashmir is not viable in the present era,” he said while answering a question at a news conference here on Sunday.

About All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Geelani’s criticism of Pakistan’s ‘changing stands’ on the Kashmir issue, Mr Rashid said when a dispute neared solution, different options came under discussion.

“Everybody wants independence (from India), some leaders are proposing short-cuts while others are in favour of longer routes,” he said, implying that the target of the APHC was the same and the only difference was on the methodology to achieve it.

He warned that confidence building measures would become irrelevant if India did not move faster to resolve the dispute.

He did not give importance to the emergence of a forward bloc in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and said several members of the so-called grouping had dissociated themselves from it.

In his opinion, some people issuing statements against the party leadership were trying to create room for themselves in other parties.

The minister said the PML was one entity, no matter how many factions were seen in it.

He said the donors’ conference had been a great success and now the government was calling a conference of some 500 richest people of the country to raise funds for the quake-hit areas.

He indicated that the government had planned to launch some big water projects, but they had been delayed because of the earthquake.

Referring to the quake-stricken areas, Mr Rashid said he believed that no more deaths would take place because of weather conditions as the government was providing shelter to the affected people.

About the fate of the exiled Sharif family, the minister said the government had issued them passports and now it was up to them to get visas for the country they wanted to visit.

He said the future of Ms Benazir Bhutto was linked with the judgment in a case against her before a Swiss court.

The minister said Pakistan would certainly get 77 F-16s from the United States but their acquisition had been delayed because of the situation created by the earthquake.

He praised Maulana Fazlur Rehman for his ‘vision and policies’ and said unlike other Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leaders, Mr Rehman had a bright political future.