Islamabad: Pakistan seeks to resolve the Kashmir issue on the basis of UN resolutions and aspiration of the Kashmiri people, prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said on Monday.
Islamabad’s engagement with the Hurriyat Conference is a “positive development and a recognition of the just cause of the people of Kashmir,” Ashraf was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office after his meeting with the seven-member All Parties Hurriyat Conference delegation led by Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
The country seeks to “resolve the Kashmir issue on the basis of United Nations resolutions and aspiration of the Kashmiri people,” he added.
Ashraf told the separatist leaders that there was “consensus in Pakistan among all political parties on the Kashmir issue”. In this connection, he referred to the appointment of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JeM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman as the chairman of parliament’s Kashmir Committee.
Further, stating that Pakistan “took pride” in the Kashmiris’ struggle for “their right of self determination”, he praised the Hurriyat leadership’s”political acumen and wisdom” in its efforts to highlight the case of the Kashmiris and assured them that “Pakistan fully stands behind them”.
Farooq thanked the premier and said the people of Kashmir “value the unconditional support of the government and the people of Pakistan”. Foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira were present during the meeting.
The Hurriyat delegation is visiting at the invitation of the Pakistan government to discuss ways to push forward efforts to resolve the Kashmir dispute. On Saturday, the delegation met leaders in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Other who include Abbas Ansari, Abdul Ghani Bhat, Bilal Ghani Lone, Agha Syed Hasan Al-Moosvi and Mussadiq Adil.
