CASABLANCA: The Organization of Islamic Countries last week Approved as even point draft resolution on Kashmir which called on India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir to resolve their conflict peacefully, “The summit supports the efforts of the Government of Pakistan to initiate a meaningful bilateral dialogues for resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and calls on the Government of India to respond Positively to these efforts,” the Resolution adopted at the OIC Foreign Ministers’ Summit here said.
Last week, a Kashmiri separatist Reader allowed by India to attend the summit in Morocco had said that Kashmiri Muslims would not take part in the elections that New Delhi plans to call in the troubled region next year.
“We are not going to participate in those elections.” Molvi Umar O04), president of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), said in an interview.
“Kashmir is not an internal Indian problem. It has never been part of India,” he added.
Eager to resolve the conflict, New Delhi has said that it wants to hold State elections as soon as the conditions permit, perhaps as early as next spring.
‘The Molvi earlier met Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, ‘who said in a separate interview that the Casablanca Summit would put the Kashmir dispute “in its true perspective.”
“It is an outstanding international dispute which needs to be resolved to promote peace and security in Asia,” she said.
Farooq and Molvi Abbas Ansari, another prominent Kashmiri separatist, were allowed by New Delhi to participate in this week’s OIC Summit in Casablanca.
Diplomats said the move was “a welcome sign of political vibrancy” on Delhi’s pan.
‘The All-party Hurriyat Conference, which groups more than 30 separatist organizations, demands a referendum of Jammu and Kashmir residents to determine whether the region should remain within India.
New Delhi, which accuses Pakistan of training and arming militants in Kashmir, opposes a referendum. Islamabad says it provided only political and moral support to the Kashmiri separatist.
Farooq, who said he wanted to promote the image of Kashmiris as people fighting for their rights and not ‘‘fundamentalist militants,” were a western suit for what he said was his first interview to the western Press. “We were forced to take arms to fight for our rights because there were no other alternatives left,” Farooq said. “Peace can be achieved only when you talk to the people’s representatives in order to solve the problems.”
Article extracted from this publication >> December 23, 1994
