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MUZAFFARABAD, Mar 05 (APP):Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry has said that tripartite talks involving all stakeholders to the dispute including the Kashmiri leadership were imperative to bring about a just and honourable settlement of Kashmir dispute.
The president expressed these views while addressing an Iftar dinner hosted by him in honor journalists yesterday.
Speaking on the occasion, the president stressed the need for adopting a unified stand on the issue of Kashmir saying that the leadership across the political spectrum must speak in one voice when it comes to the issue of Kashmir.
Reiterating his call for tripartite talks to resolve the lingering dispute, he said that Kashmiris being a principled party to the dispute has to be part of the decision making process. “Any talks process sans Kashmiris’ participation are bound to fail”, he said.
Referring to creeping communalism in Indian society, the president said Modi’s Hindutva policies have vindicated Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s stance of a separate homeland for the sub-continent’s Muslims.
He said that massacre of Kashmiri people at the hands of Indian occupation forces and ruthless slaughter of religious minorities in India say it all about India’s so-called democracy.
Referring to his recent visit to the US and UK, the president said that he had presented the Kashmiris’ case effectively before the international community and sought the global community’s effective intervention to help resolve the lingering dispute peacefully in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
He said that the world needs to realize the fact that durable peace in the region was inescapably linked to the settlement of the longstanding Kashmir dispute. “It is the responsibility of powerful countries, especially the US and Britain, to play their role in giving the Kashmiri people their right to self-determination”, he further added.
He said that an effective diplomatic campaign was required to sensitize the world about the early settlement of Kashmir dispute and galvanizing international support in favour of Kashmiris’ right to self determination in addition to mounting pressure on India to implement the UNSC resolutions that call for holding referendum in Kashmir.
On the occasion, Barrister Chaudhry appreciated overseas Kashmiris’ significant contribution in promoting Kashmir cause at global level.Terming establishment of an international airport in Mirpur, expansion and restoration of Rawalakot and Muzaffarabad airports as long outstanding demands of the people of Azad Kashmir, Barrister Chaudhry said, being head of the State he would continue to play his role to fullfil these demands.
He further stated that the construction of the Mirpur-Muzaffarabad-Mansehra Motorway, establishment of the CPEC Business Center in Mirpur and early completion of Rathua-Haryam Bridge were amongst his priorities.
The Iftar dinner was attended by Presidential Advisor Sardar Imtiaz, Presidential Secretary Idrees Abbasi, President AKNS Amjad Chaudhry, former President Aamir Mehboob, Syed Akram Shah, President Kashmir Journalists Forum Irfan Saduzai, Secretary Maqsood Muntazair, Javed Iqbal and others.