NEW YORK - Pakistan's top expert on Kashmir, Yusuf Buch, has regretted that the joint statement issued after the meeting between Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendera Modi in Ufa, Russia, contained no reference to the decades-old, UN-recognised dispute over the Himalayan State, according to a Press release.
The Press release was issued by Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, a prominent Kashmiri activist, after a meeting on Tuesday with Buch, who was Special Assistant to Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, at his New York residence where he is convalescing after his recent illness. Buch later served as Pakistan Ambassador to Switzerland before joining the United Nations in a senior capacity.
Fai, who was accompanied by Dr. A. R. Meer, said Ambassador Buch was "saddened" to learn that there was no mention of the Kashmir dispute in the Indo-Pakistan statement issed after the Ufa talks. He said in the Press release that Buch's message to Kashmiri youth was to hold on to the cause, despite the oppression of the occupying forces.
"The repression cannot be the reason for apathy towards the Kashmir cause," Buch was quoted as stating. “Participation in the freedom struggle should become the second nature of the Kashmiri youth.” "What pains me is the deceitfulness and betrayal of our own past leadership: I have never met a more deceitful person in my life than Sheikh Abdullah," Buch was further quoted as stating in the Press release.
Fai said Buch also narrated the final wish of a dying Kashmiri martyr who said on July 13, 1931, “We tried our best to do what we could, now it is on your shoulder to move the movement forward.” Buch described Kashmir as "one of the most agonising and painful situation anywhere in the world."