JEDDAH, 24 August — An Indian minister has rejected Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s recent statement about imminent freedom to Kashmiris as something not in keeping with the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Pakistani president does not know the ground realities. What is going on there is not a freedom struggle or a mass supported program as is made out to be but a movement of terror imposed on Kashmiris. It’s cross-border terrorism. So the question of freedom being around the corner referred to by him does not arise,” Omar Abdullah, minister of state for external affairs told a news conference at the Consulate General of India yesterday.
The minister, who signed an agreement with Haj Minister Iyad Madani earlier in the day, said: “Kashmir is an integral part of India... it’s part of our spirit and soul, and will remain so. For Pakistan, it is just a piece of land.”
Asked whether the current wave of rounding up members of “jihadi” organizations in Pakistan would have any tangible impact on cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, Omar said: “The only difference will be that it will be difficult for them to raise money in Pakistan for terrorism in Kashmir.”
On the longstanding UN resolution on self-determination for Kashmiris, Omar said: “The resolution pertained to the situation existing before the partition of the India on Aug. 15, 1947, (which resulted in the creation of Pakistan). “The resolution is also explicit that Pakistan must withdraw troops from the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK). We believe that all issues including Kashmir can be solved bilaterally on the basis of Simla accord and Lahore declaration. We’ll continue to talk to them as that’s where we believe the solution will emerge from,” Omar added.
“The solution lies in a negotiated settlement between the two countries,” Omar said, adding that India’s Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer met her Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit held in Colombo recently. Pakistan’s trade and Commerce Minister Abdul Razzak Dawood was also currently in New Delhi in connection with a two-day meeting of trade ministers from SAARC countries. “All these are indicative of our keen desire to keep the process of dialogue continuing at multiple levels. We do not accept Pakistan’s unifocal approach,” Omar said.
“In the mean time, we would divert our energies to contain cross-border terrorism. That’s most important at the moment,” the minister said.
Among the measures for the Jammu and Kashmir state from where he hails, Omar said employment generation for the Kashmiris was the prime need to lure the innocent people away from taking up arms,” Omar said.
Asked what was his personal solution to the issue, Omar said: “Talks, because the 12-year tension unleashed through terrorism had not yielded fruits. Innocent people are being killed. In the mean time, until such time as terrorism stops, we’ll have to further address and concentrate on the economic aspirations of Kashmiris... unemployment although a national problem could be reduced in the state. Also, the central and state governments should work together in providing basic needs like hospitals, schools, water and roads.”
On the question of signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the minister said: “We’ve said time and again that in its current form the treaty is not acceptable to us. But at the same time let me add that being a responsible nuclear power we’ll not be exporting or selling nuclear technology to any other country. In fact, we’ve a self-declared moratorium on use of nuclear technology. We’ve developed it for our own security,” Omar said.
