Pakistan says Kashmir not its part, people there should decide

[Awesome]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/12/asia/AS_GEN_Pakistan_Kashmir.php

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan has never claimed Kashmir as an integral part of its territory, a foreign ministry official said, despite six decades of war and separatist insurgency in the Himalayan region that is bitterly disputed with neighboring India.

Tasnim Aslam, spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, said Monday it is up to the Kashmiri people to decide whether they would like to be part of Pakistan.

The mostly Muslim region, claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan, is currently divided between the two countries along an uneasy cease-fire line.

"For the last 60 years, we have not claimed Kashmir to be an integral part of Pakistan," Aslam told reporters. "In case the people of Kashmir are able to decide, it is our hope that they would opt for Pakistan."

The comments came a week after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf suggested Pakistan was willing to give up its claim on Kashmir if India reciprocated and agreed to self-governance there. He proposed the South Asian neighbors could jointly supervise Kashmir.

India has long claimed that Kashmir is an integral part of its territory. The region was divided between them during partition of the subcontinent on independence from Britain in 1947.

Pakistan has long demanded that Kashmiris vote in a referendum to decide whether the territory should become part of Pakistan or India. In his recent comments, Musharraf said neither country supported full independence for Kashmir.

The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the region.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting an Islamic insurgency in India's two-thirds of Kashmir that has killed 68,000 people since it erupted in 1989. Pakistan says it only gives the rebels diplomatic and moral support.

The two rivals began a peace dialogue in January 2004, which has eased tensions but has made little progress over resolving the Kashmir dispute.

 

[Awesome]

Excellent move, should make it clear to the rest of the world that Pakistan stands on a higher moral ground when it comes to Kashmir.

Our stance is flexible and we wish only what the Kashmiris wish, while the Indians are the ones carrying on with their personal agenda with Kashmir.

 

[Neo]

Basically nothing new here.
We've always put the interest of Kashmiri's first but...if all of it wants to be 'Azad Kashmir', just let them be.

 

[Awesome]

Yeah but India and most ignorant commentators on the issue make it look like a tug of war between India and Pakistan.

It is actually much different. Kashmiris should choose, thats all Pakistan wants.

 

[Bull]

Its indeed a very commendable feat by pakistan to stand up and fight for the oppressed.

 

[sword9]

Then why the fuss about forcing political parties in Azad Kashmir to swear accession of Indian Kashmir to Pakistan, before they are eligible for any official recognition?

Why was JKLF sidelined in the early 90s by the ISI in favour of Hizbul Mijahideen?

The hollow proclamations of the article are quite evident when one sees the political status of Northern Areas, and the justification that will follow about its status after this post.

 

[Bull]

"By saying what he said to NDTV, Musharraf seems to be suggesting that the Kashmir dispute is now a matter to be resolved between India and Pakistan, and for his part Musharraf is willing to "give up" the Pakistani "claim".

The international community has no role in resolving the Kashmir issue, if it is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan, and as far as the Kashmiri people are concerned, they can negotiate their future with India. That is what India has argued for years.

That runs contrary to Pakistan's official position on Kashmir that it is the unfinished business of partition. Pakistan's entire stand has been based on the argument that the Kashmiri people have not yet exercised their right of self determination in accordance with United Nations resolutions. "

 

[Lahori paa jee]

Yet another move by Mush to probably get his name in history as the leader who resolved Kashmir dispute

 

[Awesome]

Every leader wants to do that. Solving the Kashmir dispute is the most Pro-Pakistani thing out there!

 

[Srirangan]

Every leader wants to do that. Solving the Kashmir dispute is the most Pro-Pakistani thing out there!

No. Solving the Kashmir dispute means the end of Army dominance in the Pakistani political space.

 

[EagleEyes]

No. Solving the Kashmir dispute means the end of Army dominance in the Pakistani political space.

Dont see that. Explain.

 

[Srirangan]

I'll keep it short: India is the boogeyman, Kashmir is the victim, Civilian Govt's are incapable so Army is the hero.

 

[Awesome]

Yet its a military man coming out with idea after idea about solving it! That theory doesn't fly.

 

[Srirangan]

Yet its a military man coming out with idea after idea about solving it! That theory doesn't fly.

No he is not. He is proposing 'solutions' that aren't, and he knows that, just to please his American masters.

 

[Keysersoze]

No. Solving the Kashmir dispute means the end of Army dominance in the Pakistani political space.

There are plenty more threats out there......and whilst there are external and internal threats then the army won't lose any of said dominance.