MUZAFFARABAD - Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan has said that international support for Kashmir cause has been on the rise, subsequently brightening the prospects of a peaceful settlement to the lingering dispute.
“I feel immensely satisfied that the support to our stand on Kashmir issue is increasing at the international level in general and in the Islamic Ummah in particular. In the backdrop of changing global situations, prospects of a peaceful solution to the issue are also multiplying,” he told a news conference here.
The news conference was called by him to share his observations regarding the recent OIC summit and foreign ministers’ meet in Cairo as well as the working of OIC’s ‘Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir,’ the president and Hurriyat leader Ghulam Muhammad Safi had attended the Contact Group meetings as representatives of the Kashmiris.  “It will be heartening for the Kashmiri nation that as a result of the vigorous diplomatic efforts of the government of Pakistan, OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir has been expanded and brotherly country Azerbaijan has voluntarily offered to become its member and work for the Kashmir cause,” the AJK president said. He informed that the Contact Group would shortly hold a conference of Kashmiri leadership from both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jeddah to bring forth their consensus stand on the issue on the one hand and expedite efforts at the international level for settlement of the issue on the other.
“We should not be overwhelmed by disappointment. I want to ensure my struggling brethren across the dividing line that movement is our foremost priority and we cannot remain unconcerned to it,” he said.
“We have full realization of the problems and plight of our brethren and we will shed last drop of our blood for the struggle. We enjoy full support and cooperation of the government of Pakistan,” he added.
Khan said the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu had told him that soon he would send a special team, led by his special representative for Kashmir, Ambassador Abdullah Abdul Rehman Aleem, to Azad Kashmir to ascertain its economic situation and public needs for practical steps for concrete support to the people of the area.
“The proposed visit would be vital for development of our area and all concerned departments should make special preparations in this regard,” he said.
Khan said he had also requested the OIC secretariat that Kashmiri students should be given scholarships for admission in the educational institutions of member states.