ISLAMABAD, 7 July — National Kashmir Committee Chairman Sardar Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Khan has said that the Khartoum declaration will — conclusively — prove to be a splendid pointer vis-a-vis the solution of the Kashmir dispute as well as for the renaissance of a sovereign Palestine, as enshrined in the United Nations Chapter.
On his return home after attending the three-day OIC foreign ministers’ conference in the Sudanese capital last week, Qayyum, a stalwart of the World Muslim League — Rabita Aalam-e-Islami — in an exclusive interview with Arab News, highlighted the efforts of the Ummah, with an exceptional reference to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He lauded the efforts of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, the regent, to find a solution to the Kashmir dispute. Qayyum said that the two leaders’ efforts were not only well-acclaimed at the OIC meeting but had been eulogized in each circle of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Qayyum reiterated the need for an intra-Kashmir dialogue as a prelude to find a just solution to the dispute.
Qayyum Khan said that the UN resolutions on Kashmir provide a legal framework for a fair and free plebiscite in Kashmir, allowing a right to self-determination in Kashmir.
He said “we don’t want war nor shall we initiate it. But if it is imposed upon us we will teach a lesson to the enemy.” He denounced the atrocities being let loose by the occupation (Indian) forces on innocent people of Indian-held Kashmir and called for its cessation at once.
About the UN role to help solve the Kashmir dispute, Qayyum said US Secretary of State Colin Powell must interpret the word “terrorism.” An indigenous freedom movement to break the fetters of a tyrannical rule of invaders can — in no way — be termed as an act of terrorism, he remarked. “There should be an identical yardstick and parameter based on equilibrium,” he said.
