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Kashmir a bilateral issue, stick to Simla pact: India to Pak
Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

This has been a long-standing practice. We have been meeting the Kashmiri leaders...it is important to engage with all stake-holders to find a peaceful solution to the issue Abdul Basit, pak envoy After the signing of the Simla Agreement (1972), there are only two stake-holders on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir—the Union of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Syed Akbaruddin, mea spokesman Pak violates truce again Jammu: Pakistan again violated the ceasefire on Wednesday by firing at Indian positions on the LoC in J-K. The Pakistan Army resorted to firing at Indian positions in Hamirpur sector of the LoC in Rajouri district. Two houses and a mosque were hit, following which the Indian Army retaliated, a police officer said. IANS

New Delhi, August 20
India on Wednesday made it clear to Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir was a bilateral issue and that the neighbouring country must adhere to the 1972 Simla Agreement and the 1999 Lahore Declaration if it desired an amicable settlement of the issue.

“After the signing of the Simla Agreement (1972) by Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, there are only two stake-holders on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir—the Union of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. He rejected Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit’s statement earlier in the day that he met Hurriyat leaders since they were representatives of the people of Kashmir and stakeholders on the issue.

The Indian official affirmed that the Simla Agreement was the bedrock of ties between the two countries and this was reaffirmed in the Lahore Declaration signed in 1999 between the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

Asked why India permitted meetings between Pakistan’s representatives and the Hurriyat leaders in the past, the spokesman said, “Pakistan assured us at the highest level that they were committed to a peaceful dialogue on the issue of J-K and would not allow Pakistan or territories under its control to be used for terrorism against us.’’ However, India was now aware, particularly after the Mumbai terror attacks and the manner in which Pakistan had pursued subsequent investigations and trials, that this assurance had no meaning and that an approach which was different to the one laid down by the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration would not yield results, he added. Talking to mediapersons, the Pakistani envoy claimed that he had not breached any diplomatic propriety by meeting the Kashmiri separatists.

“This has been a long-standing practice. It is important to engage with all stake-holders to find a peaceful solution to the issue,” he said, indicating Islamabad would continue talking to the separatists despite India’s objection.