Islamabad, November 4
Pakistan’s National Assembly has set up a 26-member special committee "to promote the cause of Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination at home and abroad".
The committee, set up yesterday, includes 16 members from the ruling coalition and 10 from opposition parties named in a list given by the government in a motion moved by ruling party chief whip and Labour and Manpower Minister Abdul Sattar Laleka, the daily Dawn reported today.
The National Assembly approved four-point terms of references for the new committee, which is yet to elect its chairman, the newspaper said.
The four-point terms are to monitor violations of human rights and atrocities "being committed by Indian forces in Jammu and Kashmir", to mobilise world opinion in support of "the cause of right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the stand of the government of Pakistan", to solicit and provide political, moral and diplomatic support for the people of Jammu and
Kashmir.
BEIJING: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said today that Pakistan wants peace with India but the issue of Kashmir cannot be sidelined.
"We want to develop peaceful relations with India. We want to have a composite dialogue with them, but Kashmir cannot be allowed to be sidelined," he said in a speech to Peking University students yesterday.
"We want to deal with India on the basis of sovereign equality. We cannot be coerced and we will guard our honour and dignity very jealously."
Indo-Pak ties have slightly warmed since Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called for talks in April.
But India says dialogue is not possible until the end of "cross-border terrorism".
"The long-standing conflicts and disputes, in particular Palestine and Kashmir, remain potentially explosive," Mr Musharraf said. "These disputes must be resolved on the basis of respect for the wishes of the people involved."
Pakistan had been making overtures to India to start the process of resolving the issue of Kashmir, the President said in answer to a student’s question on relations with India.
But India had lacked "the sincerity to take up the issue of Kashmir", he added.
— UNI, Reuters
