LAHORE - Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hassan impressed upon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to convince New Delhi for the solution of Kashmir issue. “The dispute must be settled as it is imperative for a lasting peace in the region and cordial relations between the two neighbouring countries,” he added.
A delegation of the Kashmiris led by Ghulam Muhammad Safi called on him at Mansoora on Saturday.
The JI leader said that talks with India could not be successful without resolving the Kashmir issue. He said the PM should make it clear to New Delhi that peace talks would remain meaningless unless the issues of Kashmir and river waters were not addressed.
The JI chief said that every Pakistani child considered India as an eternal enemy and this national outlook could not be changed. As such, the rulers in Islamabad should refrain themselves from accepting Hindus’ slavery.
Hassan said that New Delhi had not accepted Islamabad but the Pakistani rulers were crazy to declaring India as the MFN. Indian secret agencies are involved in subversion and terrorism in Balochistan to destabilise Pakistan, he said adding that the rulers might forget the India’s role in the East Pakistan debacle but the nation would never do so. India is now out to repeat the same story in Balochistan, he added. The JI chief further said that at the recent DGMO’s meting, Islamabad should have lodged strong protest over the construction of boundary wall by the other side, and warned of serious consequences and higher tension if the project was not dropped.
The JI leader said that Sharifs were keen to lift visa restrictions with India. He said that at the time when a JI leader from Bangladesh was executed for his loyalty to Pakistan, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif was witnessing a Kabaddi match in Indian. The JI, he said, was not averse to normal relations or talks with India but this would be on equal footing.
He pointed out that whereas India would talk of trade and cultural exchange, and not of Kashmir or river water issue. He said that the Quaid-e-Azam had declared Kashmir as the life line of Pakistan. Therefore, the PML-N government should give due weight to the Quaid’s words and top priority to the Kashmir issue. He said the whole world was aware of the Indian forces’ atrocities in Kashmir but the US patronage of India and Israel was the main hurdle in the solution of the Kashmir and Palestine issues.