Geelani worried about Pak future

LAHORE - Veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader Syed Ali Geelani Tuesday said the people of occupied Kashmir were worried about the survival of Pakistan and were least interested in the outcome of the recent AJK elections as they were not contested on the basis of any ideology or principle. We are worried about the future of Pakistan. We are not sure whether Pakistan will survive or not, he said in a telephonic interview with TheNation from Srinagar. He was approached for his comments on the results of the June 26 elections in Azad Kashmir, won by the PPP. The senior leader said for the people of occupied Kashmir there was just no importance of the AJK elections or the victory of the PPP and the defeat of the PML-N. He said people were also not interested in knowing which party formed coalition with whom. We feel upset because of the instability Pakistan has been facing. We are concerned about the situation in Balochistan and the killings going on in Karachi. The Kashmiri leader said the escalating tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan was also a matter of concern for the people of occupied Kashmir. Pakistan is at a crossroads at present. Answering a question, he said the AJK elections were not contested on the basis of any principle or ideology. Instead, he regretted, they were fought on the basis of communities and clans. We have attached no hopes with them. The senior leader said he had a serious complaint that the people of Pakistan had failed in taking any action against those responsible for damaging the Kashmir cause. The resentment that should have been there against such people is nowhere to be seen, he regretted. He was completely dissatisfied with the outcome of the recent talks between the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India. Recalling that the Indian Foreign Secretary Niropama Rao had said that talks could not be held under the shadow of guns, Syed Ali Geelani said he felt really upset that no Pakistani authority had responded to the Indian diplomats remarks. He said that at a time when hundreds of thousands of Indian troops were committing atrocities in occupied Kashmir, no Pakistani official had dared tell the Indian foreign secretary that the shadow of guns she had referred to were seen in Indian-held Kashmir. Syed Ali Geelani was very critical of former president Pervez Musharraf. He alleged that he was the one who had dealt a very serious blow to the Kashmir cause.

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