ISLAMABAD - Convener of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) AJK and Pakistan Chapter Syed Yousuf Naseem has rejected the general elections in Occupied Kashmir and said that such a sham exercise could not be a substitute to the plebiscite pledged to the people of Kashmir by United Nations.
Talking to The Nation on Sunday, Syed Yousuf Naseem said that it was the 13th general elections being held under the supervision of well around one million troops and the people of Occupied Kashmir had boycotted it like all the previous elections to give loud and clear message to the world community that this sham exercise could not be a substitute to the plebiscite.
To a question about the Pakistani government’s desire to enhance trade relations with India setting aside the Kashmir dispute, the APHC leader, who has given his prime time to the freedom struggle of Kashmiri people, made it clear that any attempt to normalise relations between the two neighbouring states without addressing the core issue of Kashmir could not work.
He was quick to add that for establishing durable peace in the region both countries have to work together for resolving the Kashmir dispute as per the wishes of Kashmiri people.
Naseem made it clear that people of Kashmir were promised plebiscite under the United Nations Resolution No. 122, 1957, and they would not accept anything less than that because they had rendered matchless sacrifices for securing their right of self-determination.
To a question about the intention of Pakistan Government to grant Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) to India, Naseem said that these things could not normalise the relations between the two nuclear neighbours and insisted that such moves would not do any good to Islamabad.
He further said that instead of wasting time on non-issues Islamabad should engage New Delhi in a meaningful dialogue on Kashmir dispute in the light of the UN resolutions and also proposed inclusion of Kashmiri leadership on both sides of Line of Control (LoC) in these parleys. Expressing his dissatisfaction over the government of Pakistan’s policy on Kashmir issue, Naseem said that while formulating Kashmir policy the government should take on board the leadership of AJK as well as APHC to show the comity of nations that they are all on same page vis-à-vis Kashmir issue.
APHC is a conglomeration of some 26 political and religious organisations in Occupied Kashmir and was formed in 1993 to expose the atrocities of Indian occupation forces before the world.