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Pakistan Minister Tries To Justify Terrorism In Kashmir

2007-06-18 Demanding "total" pullout of troops from Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has warned of continued activities by 'jihadi' groups if "there is no tangible move forward" on resolving the vexed issue.

Pakistan's Kashmir Affairs Minister Tahir Iqbal also said that President Pervez Musharraf's four-point formula to resolve the Kashmir problem was "not the final proposal" and "there might be a better proposition for arriving at a mutually acceptable solution of the Kashmir dispute."

"Nevertheless, President Musharraf has provided valuable suggestions to end the 60-year-old dispute and bring about peace between the two countries that would lead to overall peace and prosperity in the region," he said in an interview to 'Pakistan Observer' newspaper. Also, he said, 'jihadi' organisations should have to be associated with the dialogue process between Pakistan and India. He, however, did not name any specific groups. Pakistan-based militant groups active in Kashmir included Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad.

"If India moves forward towards the solution of Kashmir dispute, there is no reason why the jihadi terror organisations should not end their operations to seek 'independence' from India," the Pakistani minister said.

"At the same time if there is no tangible move forward towards solution of Kashmir dispute, the 'jihadi' organisations would again resort to terror to get the right of self-determination," Iqbal, a retired Major, said.

He also said that India "must" pull out its forces from Kashmir in "totality" and come to some sort of understanding to arrive at a solution to Kashmir issue that is acceptable to all stakeholders. Such a move on part of India would certainly lead to peace in Kashmir and a just and honourable solution to the issue, he said. Notwithstanding a clarification issued by Pakistan Foreign office here that Islamabad considered Northern Areas part of the united Jammu and Kashmir state which came in the ambit of the overall "disputed" Kashmir territory, Iqbal said it is not a disputed territory.

"The people of Northern Areas had announced their accession to Pakistan as far back as 1948," he said, adding a number of amendments in LFO (Legal Framework Ordinance) suggested by Northern Areas have been accepted. These would give the people of the area more powers and privileges.

Pakistan Foreign Office has not backed a similar claim by Pakistan's Ambassador to Brussels made in a letter to the EU representative on Kashmir, Emma Nicholson. Iqbal referred to various projects, including plans to build a major dam and a power project in the Northern Areas. Asked how close Pakistan and India were in arriving at a solution to the Kashmir issue, he said the two countries were engaged in intense negotiations directly as well as through back-channels.

But, he alleged that "the pace of progress seems to be kept slow by India in a futile hope that by prolonging the dispute it would be able to break the will of the Kashmiris" and added that such a move is bound to fail. He said Pakistan was totally committed to the Kashmir "cause" and would never agree to any solution that did not meet the "will and aspirations" of the Kashmiri people.