Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Tuesday called for demilitarisation of Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) and talks between Pakistan, India and the people of Kashmiris.
Addressing a joint press conference after a meeting held between the delegations of the PTI and the APHC, the leadership of both parties said they had agreed that the Kashmir dispute could not be resolved through militancy or military means and dialogue was the only solution to the longstanding conflict between Pakistan and India.
Khan said there was a need to upgrade the talks between Pakistan and India to the trilateral level as the Kashmiris, being important stakeholders in the dispute, should also be included in the talks.
He said the dream of peace and prosperity in the region would only materialise when the Kashmir issue was settled in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Kashmiri.
He said the issue was yet to be resolved due to the incompetent leadership in India and Pakistan and this had threatened regional peace.
“Weak leaderships in India and Pakistan have made the issue more and more complex. However, after coming into power, the PTI will resolve it through peaceful dialogue,” Khan said.
The PTI chairman said including the Kashmiri leadership in the talks was in the interest of both Pakistan and India.
He said Pakistan was strategically located hence it would be in the interest of the whole region that Pakistan and India coexisted peacefully., adding that the ongoing human rights violations in Kashmir should be ended once and for all.
Khan said the settlement of the dispute should be on the top of the agenda of both governments, adding that people of both countries were struggling to make ends meet so it would be beneficial for both if they coexisted peacefully and not in a war-like situation.
The PTI chief said no serious effort had been made for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in the past, adding that if the PTI came into power, Kashmir would be on the top agenda of its government.
Agreeing with Khan, Mirwaiz also said the Kashmiris should be given representation in the parleys held for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, “as the problem cannot be resolved until the Kashmiris are included in the dialogue process”. He said Pakistan and India could not live in peace and harmony unless the Kashmir dispute was resolved.
The APHC chief said Kashmir was not a territorial dispute but was a humanitarian issue, adding that “the Kashmiris are not against establishing relations between Pakistan and India, but it should not be at the cost of the Kashmiri people”.
The Hurriyat leader said the Kashmiris on both sides of the divide should be allowed to have frequent interactions.
“We are being subsided through force, but the Kashmiris cannot be suppressed. Although Kashmiris don’t have weapons, but we do have courage and the will to fight for our right to self-determination.”
Mirwaiz said dialogue should not be bilateral rather it should be trilateral, as without Kashmiris’ representation, the problem could not be solved.
