ISLAMABAD: A day after India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that Kashmir can never become part of Pakistan, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that only the Kashmiris could decide their future.
He said on Sunday, “Such a verdict on the future of Kashmir can only be given by the people of Kashmir and not by the External Affairs Minister (Sushma Swaraj) of India.” Sushma’s statement had come a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistanis were waiting for the day when Jammu Kashmir would become a part of Pakistan.
Speaking at a rally in Muzaffarabad after the Pakistan Muslim League-N’s electoral victory, PM Nawaz urged the Kashmiris in Pakistan not to forget those in Indian-held Kashmir who were sacrificing their lives for the freedom movement.
Swaraj had also criticised PM Nawaz for calling the Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Wani, assassinated by Indian occupying forces, a martyr. Commenting on the debate, Aziz said, “Here again, India cannot ignore the fact that over 200,000 Kashmiris participated in the funeral prayers of Wani.” He added that not many years ago British colonial power regarded Indian freedom fighters as traitors and terrorists.
He also called for a plebiscite in the contested region, according to the United Nations resolutions. “It is high time that India allowed the people of Jammu Kashmir to exercise this right through a free and fair UN supervised plebiscite.” He said that once the majority of the people of the region had voted for joining either Pakistan or India, the whole world would accept their verdict.
He reiterated that the government and the people of Pakistan remained in firm support to the Kashmiris’ indigenous movement for self-determination and resolution of the dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions on the region.
