ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz has called upon the international community and India to fulfill promises made to Jammu & Kashmir people for exercise of their inalienable right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations.
Addressing International Parliamentary Seminar on Jammu and Kashmir here on Thursday, he said that Pakistan is utilizing all possible avenues to project the cause of Kashmir and to find its lasting settlement in accordance with the wishes of the people.
“Let there be no doubt that Pakistan will continue to extend its steadfast support to the Kashmiri people,” he asserted.
Pakistan is committed to extending all moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their historic struggle for their right to self-determination, he said.
The moot was opened by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and was attended, among others, by Speaker National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Minister for Defence, Khawaja Asif, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Masood Khan and Prime Minister of AJK, Raja Farooq Haider.
Sartaj Aziz stressed that the UN Security Council Resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir offer the only plausible, peaceful and democratic solution to the Jammu & Kashmir dispute.
The Kashmir dispute remains the core issue between India and Pakistan, he said. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the United Nations General Assembly last September had said “Peace and normalization between Pakistan and India cannot be achieved without a resolution of the Kashmir dispute. This is an objective evaluation, not a partisan position”, he quoted.
A deeply worrying aspect of Indian actions in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) is the attempt to change the demography of Kashmir and convert its Muslim majority into a minority, he said. Recent reports of issuance of Kashmiri citizenship to non-state subjects, have led to protests and clashes in the IoK, he added.
“Equally disturbing are reports of extension of SARFAESI Act to IoK, whereby Indian Banks can seize property of Kashmiri people and sell them to non-state subjects.”
