MIRPUR (AJK)
The Jammu & Kashmir Peoples National Party called for inclusion of true representatives of the people from either side of the Line of Control into the Pakistan-India composite dialogue process to reach a solution to the Kashmir problem in line with their aspirations.
Addressing a joint press conference at the Kashmir Press Club, Jammu & Kashmir Peoples National Party Chairman Nazirul Haq Naazish said that only tripartite talks among Pakistan, India and the true representatives of the people of Jammu & Kashmir could bear fruit.
Flanked by Secretary General Zulfiqar Ahmed Raja Advocate and PNP’s International Committee’s chairman Tahir Bostan, he observed that it was crystal clear that bilateral talks besides the back-channel diplomacy between the two countries bore no fruit towards the resolution of the Kashmir conflict, the prime bone of contention between the nuclear arch rivals in the region.
The PNP leaders contended that compete sovereignty and freedom of Jammu & Kashmir state could leave far reaching positive impact on the everlasting peaceful and tension-free relations between both India and Pakistan with the settlement of the Kashmir issue through tri-partite talks.
PNP Chairman Prof Nazirul Haq called upon all the patriotic political parties of Jammu & Kashmir including from AJK, Occupied Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan to hold a convention for devising a joint constitution of the entire state which could ensure the empowerment of the people in true perspective, they maintained. He expressed dismay and dissatisfaction over the existing act - 1974, the interim constitution of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, which, what he observed, lacked the true empowerment of the elected representatives of the people of the AJK state.
Naazish revealed that three-pronged strategy was being devised to bring united all the patriotic and nationalist political groups of Jammu & Kashmir state on a page to materialise the idea of forming a constitution through the joint convention of the patriotic political parties, he added.
The JK PNP chairman said, “The political situation in Jammu & Kashmir demands a united and serious intervention from the patriotic Kashmiri groups to create a genuine United Patriotic Fount. Such a platform must be based on the principles of national sovereignty with complete independence of the Jammu & Kashmir state, in terms of its ideological, political and financial resources.
The prime objective of the proposed UPF must be to challenge the hegemony over Kashmir issue as a geo-political dispute between the two, and turn it into a question of national sovereignty of the people, which has been usurped since 1947, he said. Elderly Kashmiri politician Jabbar Butt, Amin Beg Advocate and others were also present.