Support to Kashmiris just cause reassured

Commenting further on statements in the WSJ article attributed to President Asif Ali Zardari on the issue of Kashmir, she said the President has made it very clear that the just cause of Kashmir and its struggle for self-determination has been a consistent central position of the PPP for the last forty years.

“There has been no change in this policy,” said Sherry Rehman. “The President has never called the legitimate struggle of Kashmiris an expression of terrorism, nor has he downplayed the sufferings of the Kashmiris. All his statements on India should be viewed in context of Pakistan’s current bilateral relations with that country.”

The Federal Minister pointed to the ongoing Pakistan-India composite peace dialogue and several confidence-building measures as an example of the warming bilateral relations between the two countries. “However,” she said, “our efforts for peace with India will not be traded off with our principled stand on Kashmir.”

Our Monitoring Desk adds: Sherry said President Zardari had never linked the liberation struggle in Kashmir with terrorism, adding the Kashmir policy of the PPP government has not changed at all.

She said the President had agreed on joint patrolling of the border areas by the forces of both Pakistan and Afghanistan to contain the alleged intrusion of militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan.