New York, September 30
Equating the Kashmir issue with the Palestinian cause, Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has claimed that lasting peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without a "just and durable" solution to the problem.

"Together with Palestine, Jammu and Kashmir remains the oldest unresolved dispute on the UN agenda," Khar said at an annual meeting of the 56-nation Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) here early this week.

"The prospect of a lasting peace in South Asia is directly linked with a just and durable solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Pakistan has repeatedly underlined this fundamental reality in our engagement with India," she said.

The Pakistan Foreign Minister said her country supports associating the "true representatives" of the Kashmiri people with the Pakistan-India dialogue process to find a durable solution of the issue.

Khar said "self-determination" is a basic human right "which cannot be applied selectively."

Voicing Pakistan's support to the Palestinian statehood, she said a just and peaceful settlement of the Middle East issue is an "indispensable imperative in the interest of peace in the broader Middle Eastern region." — PTI