No Compromise on Kashmiris’ Wishes: Soomro
By Sarah Kamal 'Pakistan Times' Special Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Muhammadmian Soomro said Saturday Pakistan fully supported the just right to self-determination as enshrined in the Resolutions of United Nations to Kashmiris, and any step against the aspiration of the people of Held Valley would not be acceptable to Pakistan.

He was addressing the concluding session of a two-say International Conference on Kashmir jointly organised by Institute of Strategic Studies and Kashmir Institute of International Relations here on March 16-17.

The moot aimed at focussing on conflict resolution among three parties of the Kashmir dispute; Pakistan, India and people of Kashmir, as well as formulating recommendations in this regard.

It was attended by intellectuals, opinion-makers and Parliamentarians from all over the world, who have been significantly contributing to the Kashmir dispute resolution process.

Prominent participants include Yasin Malik, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, AJK President , AJK PM, Barrister Sultan Mehmud Chaudhry and others.

The Chairman Senate said the working groups had come up with meaningful recommendations that would have far-reaching impacts for settlement on long-standing dispute of Kashmir.

Soomro said Government was committed to peaceful resolution of Kashmir dispute in accordance with wishes of Kashmiri people.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Maj ® Tahir Iqbal said Pakistan and India had recognised that Kashmir dispute could not continue to linger on and the centrality of the Kashmiri people to the resolution of the dispute had also been accepted.

He said time for deliberating upon possible ways to move forward towards resolution of the dispute had arrived.

The minister said the conference had provided an opportunity to consolidate proposals for defining a viable road-map for the final solution of the Kashmir issue.

He stressed upon the three stakeholders Pakistan, India and Kashmiris should resolve Kashmir dispute amicably.

He said international community must play pivotal role in the settlement of Kashmir problem.

The minister said just resolution of core dispute of Kashmir was essential for durable peace in South Asia as well as economic prosperity of both Pakistan and India.

He said implementation of the four-point formula presented by the President General Pervez Musharraf, if reciprocated positively by India, would result in just and lasting peace for the region.

He said it is the moral obligation of International Community to presurise India to move positively for the resolution of Kashmir issue.

The minister said Government and people of Pakistan are extending all the moral, political and diplomatic support to their Kashmir brothers and sisters who are struggling to achieve their rights.

On day one, the first working group, chaired by Professor Abdul Ghani Bhutt discussed the “Human rights and Justice in Kashmir”, Group B, Chaired by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, discussed the viability of a step-by-step approach to the “Self-determination, demilitarisation, self-governance; Joint management”, and the Group C , chaired by Brian Cox was devoted to “Learning from Models of Conflict Resolution and peace process”.

The three groups presented their recommendations during the concluding session.●