LAHORE - Jamaat-ud-Dawaa (JuD) Ameer Hafiz Muhammad Saeed yesterday called upon the government to frame a viable policy on Kashmir through a joint session of the Parliament, keeping in view the ongoing struggle of the people of the held valley, which has yielded an opportunity to draw the same benefits which were available to Pakistan in 1948.

Apprising senior media men of the current situation in the held valley, Hafiz Saeed said the United Nations and America support Indian stance on Kashmir while the hearts of Kashmiris beat with Pakistanis, so Pakistan must have a proactive policy on Kashmir, reciprocating the sentiments of the Kashmiris who are raising Pakistani flags everywhere amid the worst tyranny from the Indian forces.

Hafiz Saeed, flanked by JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid, said Pakistan did not do corresponding to what Kashmiris have done in IHK. He said the UN and the US side with India, so the best option is to create the same situation which existed in 1948 when Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted Pakistani forces to enter Kashmir to support Mujahideen, but the then army chief of Pakistan, who was a British national, defied his orders and the case was taken to the UN. He said short of waging war with India, Pakistan can put pressure on New Delhi through diplomatic efforts and mobilising a wide-scale public opinion in support of Kashmiris’ rights. Practical steps, and not just lip service, need to be taken, Hafiz Saeed said, seeking the army’s role in solving the Kashmir issue. “All means should be pressed into service to solve the Kashmir problem instead of relying on the UN and the US,” he said.

Hafiz Saeed said Pakistan should openly declare Kashmir its inevitable part in the spirit of the Quaid-e-Azam’s words, who had termed Kashmir jugular vein of Pakistan. He said Pakistan must appoint a foreign minister to exclusively take care of the Kashmir issue. The world needs to be brought home about the terrorism Indian has unleashed on the innocent people of Kashmir, he said.

Recalling the past, he said when India had taken the Kashmir issue to the UN, Pakistan should have moved the world for implementation of the UN resolutions. “It was our failure of which India took advantage and began to term Kashmir its integral part, dubbing Kashmiris’ struggle terrorism,” Hafiz Saeed said. India also started accusing Pakistan of interfering in its internal affairs as and when Islamabad raised the Kashmir issue at any forum. “Due to our these failures, if we seek international help on Kashmir at this stage, the UN or the US would only declare the Line of Control (LoC) a permanent border between India and Pakistan. He also belied the claims made by the Musharraf government about getting close to solving the Kashmir problem.

The JuD ameer, however, said the issue of Kashmir is today at a point which it was never in the past. “Kashmir has an indigenous movement for freedom which India cannot brand as motivated by Pakistan’s intervention. Today Pakistan is in a position to inform the world of Kashmiris’ sentiments and aspirations about their right to plebiscite. Unity of the whole nation to stand by Kashmiris is a prerequisite for this purpose. It is the best time for Pakistan to take the Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom to the logical end, otherwise the Indian atrocities and barbarity in the held valley will continue unabated,” Hafiz Saeed said. He urged the government to send truckloads of food aid the held valley for the Kashmiris who are facing incarceration at the hands of the Indian forces. “The government, the Parliament and the army should jointly find a way to create the same situation in Kashmir which existed in 1948. This is how India will be forced to talk to us on Kashmir and our stand will be accepted by the world,” he concluded.