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| Kashmir not part of joint anti-terror mechanism | | Pak Foreign Minister embarrased by PoK activists | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI, NOV. 22
Jamaat-e-Islami and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) have dropped the brick on Pakistani Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, and his Foreign Secretary in Islamabad. Indeed, Ijaz Afzal of Jamaat-e-Islami and Amanullah Khan of J&K Liberation Front (JKLF) walked out of the briefing session on Kashmir convened by Kasuri on Tuesday.
Media reports from Islamabad divulged that the expression of anger and dissatisfaction by the leaders of the two parties became too evident to be missed immediately after Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said that he "recognised" the President and Prime Minister of the PoK and Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, US-based executive director of the Kashmiri American Council (KAC), as Kashmiri leaders. Kasuri's remarks led to the boycott of the meeting by Ijaz Afzal and Amanullah Khan.
More embarrassing than this was the reported assertion by the Jamaat-e-Islami and JKLF of the PoK that they "have no confidence in Pakistan's Kashmir policy". Equally embarrasing situation arose when Kasuri "apologised"after the walkout by the Jamaat-e-Islami and JKLF leaders. And Kasuri was reported to have said that he wanted to welcome the participants by announcing their names but the use of the word "recognise" was a slip of tongue.
Nor was it all. Barrister Sultan Mohamed Chaudhry, chief of Muslim League in PoK, and Sardar Khalid Ibrahim also boycotted the meeting. On the other hand, Dr Fai was reported to have said that Kasuri had sought proposals for the resolution of the Kashmir issue from the Kashmiri leaders and Pakistan's Foreign Office teams would meet them individually.
The meeting was told by Pakistan's Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary that matter relating to Kashmir will not be part of the joint Indo-Pak mechanism to share intelligence on terrorism. The PoK's All Parties Hurriyat Conference convener, Yousaf Nasim, was quoted as saying at the end of the five-hour meeting: "The Foreign Secretary told us that the Kashmir freedom movement was not part of the decisions taken during the recent Indo-Pak talks. However, the two countries agreed to share intelligence to counter terrorism".
"The participants of the meeting were informed that Pakistan gave importance to the freedom movement and also recognised the sacrifices of Kashmiri freedom fighters", Nasim was quoted as saying. According to him, the Kashmir leaders at the meeting proposed that India and Pakistan should relax the strict criteria for travelling on the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service. |
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