MUZAFFARABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday said any resolution of the Kashmir issue must be centred on Kashmiris themselves, calling Kashmir an important segment of the composite dialogue process with India. The Dispatch News Desk (DND) reported.
“The hanging of Afzal Guru through abuse of judicial process has further angered the Kashmiris.” The president paid rich tribute to Guru and called his hanging “abuse of judicial process”.Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged in New Delhi on February 9 for his part in a deadly attack on the Indian parliament in 2001, sparking more than a week of protests in the disputed Himalayan territory.
In his address to the joint session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and AJK Council, the president said for a durable resolution, Kashmiris must be associated with the dialogue process with India. Zardari said “force and oppression” would not silence calls for self-determination in Kashmir, where a separatist conflict has claimed an estimated 100,000 lives over the last 20 years.
“The hanging of Afzal Guru through abuse of judicial process has further angered the Kashmiris.”He praised Guru by quoting a verse written by the Urdu language poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. “The dignity and esteem with which a person heads towards the place of execution is immortal. On contrary, the life is but a transitory phase.”
The president said Pakistan remained committed to finding a just and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people and said, “The Kashmiris alone must be the principal beneficiaries.”
President Zardari said Kashmir held the key to peace and progress in South Asia, home to one fifth of the humanity.He said Pakistan wanted and needed peace with all its neighbours and said the resolution of Kashmir issue would pave the way to the normalisation of relations between Pakistan and India.
Zardari said for over six decades, the Kashmiris had struggled to achieve their right to self-determination.”The force and oppression has been used against them, but their voice could not be silenced. It will never be,” he said, adding that life imprisonment would not deter freedom fighters.He said the ongoing protest movement was a new chapter in the struggle of Kashmiri people.
Zardari termed the movement as indigenous and non-violent and said unarmed Kashmiris, including women, children and youth were demanding their right to self-determination. He said international human rights organisations and even saner voices within India had been urging their government to give up the path of violence.
The president said Kashmir remained one of the longest running issues on the UN agenda and mentioned that the UN Security Council had recognised their rights.However, he regretted that the international community had yet to restore these rights.
“The Kashmiris have paid in their blood for the failure of the international community. I salute the courage, the resolve and the determination of the Kashmiris,” he said.He assured that Pakistan would remain firmly committed to its principled stance, based on UN Security Council resolutions.
Zardari said Pakistan was committed to seeking a solution of the dispute through peaceful negotiations.He said no solution to the issue would be workable if it did not reflect the genuine aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
