LAHORE, Jan 2: The objective of opening of five checkpoints along the Line of Control (LoC) to facilitate travel of Kashmiris across the LoC had been defeated by the tedious procedure adopted by the Indian government for issuance of travel documents.
This was stated by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who led a three-member All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) delegation into Pakistan here on Monday. Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat and Bilal Lone are members of the delegation. The APHC leaders will return home on Saturday.
“I don’t think more than 40-50 people have used these five points for travel because of intransigence of New Delhi. It takes the Indian government months to issue travel documents to those who wish to go to Azad Kashmir from any one of these points; it is easier to travel on Indian passport to Pakistan and Azad kashmir,” he added.
Mirwaiz castigated the Indian government for delaying their travel to Azad Kashmir and Pakistan and said their 19-member delegation which wanted to visit Azad Kashmir to express solidarity with the quake victims had been waiting for travel documents for the last 45 days.
“When we realised that the Indian government was delaying issuance of the documents needed to cross LoC, we decided to travel on our passports as a protest against India’s intransigence. Other members of our delegation are still waiting for travel documents,” he said, adding the main objective of their visit was to express solidarity with the victims of the Oct 8 earthquake in Azad Kashmir. He said the APHC volunteers were still waiting for their travel documents to bring relief goods for their suffering brethren in Azad Kashmir.
He said the earthquake had brought the Kashmir dispute in limelight at the international level. “We have always stated that Kashmir is not only a political issue but also has a human dimension. We have divided families there. The quake highlighted this human dimension of the issue and we were expecting the governments of India and Pakistan to look at this issue from human angle. However, this opportunity has been lost,” he said, adding that the visiting APHC leaders would emphasize on bridging the distance between people of the two sides of Kashmir by pulling down artificial walls.
The APHC leaders will meet President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during their stay. In answer to a question, Mirwaiz said they would meet anyone, even United Jihad Council chairman Syed Salahuddin, if he wanted to meet them.
KASHMIR SOLUTION: Mirwaiz categorically stated that no solution to the Kashmir problem that maintained status quo or divided the state was acceptable to the APHC.
“The issue involves 14 million people. We’ll accept only that solution which encompasses the entire state. We want to find out a durable solution to the problem in consultation with the leadership of Azad Kashmir. The strategy we formulate will be presented to the governments of India and Pakistan,” he said.
When a reporter told him that Pakistan’s foreign minister Khursheed Kasuri had spurned his proposal of establishing United States of Kashmir, he said no solution to the Kashmir dispute proposed so far was final.
“All proposals are at their embryonic stage, but the proposal regarding United States of Kashmir reflect a new thought. We are discussing this and other proposals in the APHC but any idea that does not call for division of Kashmir or maintenance of status quo can be discussed thoroughly. Only that solution will be final that takes into account aspirations of the people of the entire state of Kashmir,” he said.
In answer to another question, he said the UN resolutions on Kashmir offered only a legal justification to the Kashmir problem. He said though the UN had failed to discharge its responsibilities yet its resolutions on Kashmir could provide a basis for a solution to the issue.
He said New Delhi had never shown seriousness in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. He said recent developments on the issue and flexibility shown by Pakistan and the APHC had increased pressure on India.
He said the APHC was not a part of the Track-II diplomacy going on between Pakistan and India. He said he was not much aware of developments in the back channel diplomacy.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.