Kashmir is at best with Kashmiris

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  • Former foreign minister says self-governance of Kashmir is only solution acceptable to Pakistanis, Indians and Kashmiris
  • Joint statement of RPI Track-II moot urges India to handover Mumbai’s Jinnah House to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD
MIAN ABRAR

Former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri has said that self governance of Kashmir was the only possible solution of the disputed territory which would be acceptable to the peoples of India, Pakistan and Kashmir.

Sharing the details of a possible solution of Kashmir issue on the eve of RPI dialogue, former foreign minister and RPI Chairman Khurshid Kasuri said that as a foreign minister he had played a key role in evolving a consensus over the issue and the then governments of Pakistan and India had almost reached a consensus.

Kasuri said that in 2006, both the countries had reached on a possible solution which was also acceptable to the Kashmiri leadership. He said that he had held exclusive meetings with Kashmiri people of both sides of the LoC and both were unanimous for the possible solution.

KASURI SHARES THE PLAN:

The former minister said that under the plan, the number of troops of both the countries would be decreased in occupied and Azad Kashmir in a phased manner and then be restricted to the borders. He said that initially India insisted that Pakistan would also have to sacrifice Azad Kashmir and only then a solution could be made to the long-standing problem.

Kasuri said that the Pakistani Army was fully supportive of the dialogue process and the negative impression about its role was uncalled for. He said that the session had been attended by two four star army generals and two three star generals who had fully backed the peace initiative calling for a solution based on the principle of “just peace” between the archrivals.

Earlier, during the seminar, eminent journalist and Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami gave a briefing over the role of media of both sides in resolving the longstanding issues between both the countries. He called upon the media to play a constructive role for normalisation of relations and shun hawkish approach which was badly impacting the efforts to normalise bilateral relations.

JOINT DECLARATION:

Following the daylong discussion, a joint declaration was issued which called for resumption of dialogue on all issues including Kashmir and terrorism.

In doing so, the statement said, the progress made in the past and the consensus arrived at in the previous parleys should become the basis of the dialogue for rapid progress with concrete results in reasonably short time.

The moot called for opening of an Indian consulate in Karachi while Pakistan should do the same in Mumbai. As promised by the then Indian government in late 70s, the Jinnah House in Mumbai should be handed over to Pakistan’s government, enabling it to open its consular office there, the statement added.

The statement urged the media to play its key role in carrying forward the message of peace among the peoples of the two countries.

The participants urged the governments of both states to take all measures to expand and deepen social bonds, helping divided families on both sides of the border to reunite by easing visa regime.

PARTICIPANTS FROM INDIA: Former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, former petroleum minister Mani Shankar, ambassador NN Jha, Dileep Padgonkar, Sidharth Varadarajan, Sanjive Ahluvalia, Anil Padmanabhan, Dr Ved Partap Vaidik, Sudheendra Kulkarni, Dr Zoya Hassan, Barkha Dutt, Amit Baruah and Aakar Patel.

PARTICIPANTS FROM PAKISTAN: Khurshid Kasuri, Arif Nizami, General (r) Ehsanul Haq, Raoof Hasan, Shehnaz Wazir Ali, Dr Hafeez Pasha, Riaz H Khokhar, Bushra Gohar, Farhat Ali, Aziz Ahmed Khan, Shahid Malik, Lt General (r) Asad Durrani, M Ziauddin Ahmed and Dr Moid Pirzada.