ISLAMABAD - A landmark weeklong visit of Kashmiri leadership from the Indian Occupied Kashmir to Pakistan, beginning from Friday, would pave way for tripartite dialogue towards resolution of the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir, sources said on Tuesday.
An eight-member All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) delegation headed by Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq would be visiting on the invitation of government of Pakistan and unlike the past, the Indian government has issued passports to the delegation members without any problem.
“The visit is a major confidence building effort towards resolution of the core issue of Kashmir,” a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told TheNation requesting not to be named. He said that Pakistan wants resolution of Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiris and the UN resolutions.
During the visit the delegation would meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, leaders of AJK government, Chairman of the Kashmir committee of the National Assembly and leaders of other political parties including, PML-N, PTI, MQM and Jammat-e-Islami.
“Basic purpose of the visit of the Hurriyat delegation to Pakistan is to evolve a joint course on the core issue of Kashmir,” senior Hurriyat leader Yousaf Naseem told TheNation.
Nasim said the delegation would include Professor Abdul Bhat, Bilal Gani Lone, Molvi Abas Ansari, Aga Syed Hassan, Musadiq Adil, Mukhatar Ahmad Waza and Shabir Ahmed Shah who is expected to travel to Pakistan through bus via Line of Control (LoC).
He was upbeat about the outcome of the visit, saying Indian government was under tremendous pressure from the international community to make serious efforts for the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir issue for the lasting peace and stability in the region.
“There is a great degree of realisation in India about the resolution of the Kashmir issue as it was the major obstacle for New Delhi towards seeking UNSC permanent berth,” Syed Yousaf Naseem said, adding that apart from UNSC members, India was facing pressure from the European Union, OIC and international Human Rights Organisations to resolve the Kashmir problem in accordance with aspirations of Kashmiris and in line with the UN resolutions.
He commended the speech of President Zardari at the UN General Assembly in September seeking world support for resolution of core issue of Kashmir, which was greatly appreciated by the Hurriyat leadership as well as large majority of Kashmiris from Indian held Kashmir.
Political analysts were also attaching great importance to the visit of Hurriyat leadership saying India has been isolated on the Kashmir issue. They believed that India was under great pressure from the world’s major power pushing New Delhi to seek resolution of the dispute with Pakistan. “ There is a tangible change in the Indian policy towards Kashmir question”, Syed Yousaf Naseem acknowledged the change which he believed could be because of the international pressure and because of the fact that it could not muzzle the freedom movement for which people from each village, town and cities of Kashmir had embraced martyrdom.
He said New Delhi had failed to crush the freedom movement despite employing brutal force against the armless freedom fighters over the years and this was perhaps the main reason that India government and military establishment was now seeking resolution of the issue through peaceful means.