M A I N   N E W S

Permanent solution of Kashmir issue not possible: Qayyum
Says Hurriyat not true representative of J & K people

Muzaffarabad (PoK), November 28
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan has stressed for an interim solution of the Kashmir issue, saying a permanent resolution of the problem was impossible and unlikely to be accepted by the parties concerned.

“There is a need to correct the perceptions that a permanent solution of the Kashmir issue will be accepted by all the parties concerned to the dispute - India, Pakistan and people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Mr Khan told the visiting Indian journalists here at a dinner-meeting last night.

He said the parties concerned should accept an interim solution because a permanent solution of the Kashmir issue was not possible.

Asked to elaborate, Mr Khan said any solution which is not permanent and acceptable to all the parties concerned can be called an interim solution.

Mr Khan, who is also the former PoK President, said to make the dialogue process successful “it is necessary that everything should not be disclosed.”

He also asserted that the Hurriyat Conference is not the true representative of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and said the rift in the amalgam has damaged the Kashmir cause.

“Who says the Hurriyat leaders are the true or real representatives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. They are not. They have influence only in small pockets in the state,” Mr Khan told the visiting Indian journalists at the dinner-meeting here last night.

He said the rift in the Hurriyat Conference has damaged the Kashmir cause. “It has done more harm than any good,” he added.

Mr Khan said the representatives could be elected by the people. “Let there be an election to decide who are the real representatives of the people. These representatives can then sit with India and Pakistan and discuss and make efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue,” he added.

Meanwhile, more than 25,000 persons from Jammu and Kashmir are living in about 15 migrant camps spread over Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), officials have said.

This migration from Jammu and Kashmir has taken place after 1990 when militancy erupted in the state. Many of them are from the border areas.

However, there are more than 35,000 non-registered refugees in PoK, the officials added.

Giving figures, they said more about 14,000 refugees are living in nine camps in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. — UNI

Home Ministry to focus on Indo-Pak road links
S Satyanarayanan
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 28
Emphasising on the need for greater people-to-people interaction between India and Pakistan, the Union Home Ministry has decided to pursue the opening of Jammu-Sialkot, Uri-Muzaffarabad and Kargil-Skardu roads.

A note prepared by the Home Ministry, based on the three-day visit of Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to Jammu and Kashmir between November 6 and November 8, stressed that the opening of these three road networks will help people-to-people contact and open up trade.

“This would help people-to-people contact and open up trade,” it said.

The note, which spells out various strategies to be adopted by the Union Home Ministry to achieve the twin objectives of peace and development in the state, also emphasises on the need for “balanced development” of three regions of Jammu and Kashmir i.e Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions.

In a bid to generate more employment and to prevent alienation of youth, the note has called for raising additional India Reserve (IR) battalions and Battalions of Central para-military forces and the Army by recruiting youths of Jammu and Kashmir.

The note prepared on the basis of Mr Patil’s interaction with a cross-section of people in Jammu and Kashmir has also pointed out the need for expediting the completion of various infrastructure projects like the roads, power projects, fuller implementation of development schemes for agriculture, horticulture, tourism, trade, handicrafts industries etc.

It also called for putting in place an effective public grievances-redressal system in the state giving opportunity and representation to people of far-flung areas.

While emphasising on efforts to bring about all round economic development in Jammu and Kashmir, it has called for modernisation of security forces.

It has called for upgradation of communication equipment, gadgets, weaponry and ammunition and training security forces and personnel of intelligence agencies on newer technologies.