ISLAMABAD: Prime minister Benazir Bhutto returning at the end of an mission to five middle eastern and north African counties with Pakistan’s plea for a plebiscite in Kashmir,

Ms. Bhutto, who had embarked on a new diplomatic initiative to muster support of Muslim states to separatists in Jammu and Kashmir, launched a strong anti-India campaign according to the Indian press.

All the five countries—Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Aligiers and Bahrain—refused to be swayed by the repression and the arbitrary power given to the Indian forces to suppress the uprising in Kashmir.

In Baghdad, President Saddam Husain told Ms. Bhutto “you Pakistan are our brother, but India is our friend” making it clear that Iraq was not willing to spoil its relations with India on the Kashmir issue,

President Saddam Husain who is well aware of Pakistan’s affinity towards Iran, emphasised that Iraq would not take sides and counseled peace and resolution of disputes through negotiations.

In Kuwait, the Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who is currently chairman of the organisation of Islamic countries, laid stress on the overriding need to avoid military confrontation between India and Pakistan and to find a solution to the Kashmir problem through peaceful means.

Leaders of Morocco, Algiers and Bahrain, who enjoy close ties with India, spoke in a similar vein urging the two south Asian neighbours to bilaterally resolve their disputes.

Ms. Bhutto and Pakistani officials, however, described her visit as “highly rewarding”, “successful” and “extremely satisfactory”, adding that the Muslim leaders had shown “close identity of views”, and “leaders had complete understanding” of Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir,

The Pakistan prime minister, who termed her current mission as the second leg of her “journey of peace”, used the occasion to accuse India of clamping “draconian” measures in the valley and assert that Pakistan would continue to extend moral, diplomatic and political support to the secessionists in Kashmir.

She also made it a point to stress that Pakistan had taken the peace initiative and as a result foreign secretaries of the two countries would be meeting shortly to evolve ways to ease current tension.

But unlike her earlier tour in May to eight countries when MS Bhutto had spoken about “war threats” by India and declaring on an aggressive note that Pakistan could not be “browbeaten”, on this tour she appeared to have mellowed down her rhetoric to some extent,

In Rabat, capital of Morocco, she said without addressing the Kashmir issue, stable peace was not possible in the south Asian region.

She hoped that the forthcoming foreign secretaries meeting would yield positive results and usher in a new era of friendly relations between the two countries.

Ms. Bhutto had attached considerable significance to her current visit with the hope that she would be able to rally the support of these Muslim states on the Kashmir issue before the meeting of OIC foreign ministers in Cairo on July 30.

The Pakistan premier has also dispatched a number of envoys and federal ministers to over 20 countries as special emissaries to get their backing on the Kashmir issue before the OIG summit.

Meanwhile the president-elect of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Barrister Sultan Mahmoud, has claimed that the government and the people of Britain had assured full support to the Kashmiris “Talking to newsmen on his return from UK, he said the “uprising” in the valley was gaining worldwide support and it could not be suppressed through force.

Kashmiri people believed in a peaceful solution to the Kashmir problem, but they could go for another option if they were continuously denied their right to determine their own future, he said.

When you blame others, you give up your power to change.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 27, 1990