Bilawal Bhutto - Kashmir solution central to regional peace

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the PPP believes that the people of Kashmir are a key to a final settlement of the Kashmir dispute and that the Party stands by them in their just struggle.

He said this while talking to a delegation of the APHC which called on him in Zardari House in Islamabad today.

The 20-member APHC delegation that called on him comprising of representatives of all parties in the Hurriyat conference included Ghulam Muhammad Safi, mir Tahir Masood, Mahmood Saghir, Yousuf Naseem, Abdul Hameed Lone, Shafi Dar, Ijaz Butt, Shamim Shal, Faiz Naqashbandi and others.

President AJK Sardar Yaqub, PM Chaudhry Majid, Speaker Ghulam Sadiq, senior minister Ch Yasin, finance minister Ch Latif Akbar, minister Matloon Inqilabi also accompanied the APHC delegation. Ms Faryal Talpur, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Sherry Rehman, and Jamil Soomro were also present on the occasion.

Resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of the people of Kashmir is also central to peace in the region, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said.

It is also the PPP vision to take South Asia on to the path of peace and prosperity with respect and honour and without prejudice to the position on UN resolutions on Kashmir. This path is through confidence building, conflict management and creation of a trading bloc of nations to improve the living conditions of all people of South Asia, he said.

While measures like appropriate confidence building measures, greater people to people contacts and enhanced trade are very much needed to create a climate for durable peace in the region the centrality of Kashmir issue cannot be sidelined or ignored, he said.

He recalled that the Party under the leadership of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto succeeded in giving observer status to APHC in the OIC, proposed soft borders as far back as 1999.

Earlier on, the PPP introduced the South Asian Preferential Tariff Agreement as well as the concept of groups of people, like Parliamentarians and Judges, travelling in the SAARC countries without visas he said.

The PPP respects freedom and the fundamental rights of people. There can be no greater fundamental right than the right to franchise of a people, he said.

Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that while paying tributes to the brave people of Jammu and Kashmir the PPP chairman also reassured them that the PPP will always stand with them in their just struggle.

The right to self determination of the people of Kashmir is also enshrined in the UN Charter and cannot be wished away by force and brutal suppression, the ppp chairman said.

The Pakistan Peoples Party is committed to respecting the fundamental rights of the people and finding a just, honorable and peaceful solution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the aspirations of its people.

The Kashmiris should also be associated with the dialogue process as, in the ultimate analysis, they would be the final arbiters of their destiny, he said.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari condemned shelling across the LoC and Working Boundary over in which several innocent lives were lost on our villages and called for respecting the ceasefire understanding.

The APHC delegation thanked Bilawal for meeting them and said that the PPP had a history of supporting the kashmiris struggle which was widely appreciated in the held Kashmir.

Earlier the PPP Chairman met ppp delegations from the districts of Gujrat and Lahore and discussed with them party’s organizational matters and overall political situation.

Later he also met PPP office bearers of Rawalpindi and hosted dinner for them. The party meetings were attended by Ms Faryal Talpur, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Sherry Rehman, Latif Khosa, Qamar Kaira, Tanvir Kaira and Jamil Soomro.