Government fully committed to Kashmir cause: Wattoo
31 January, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, in a seminar on Monday, said the government was fully committed to Kashmir cause and every possible assistance – moral, material or diplomatic – was extended to the people of Kashmir for their just and basic right of self determination through a plebiscite under the United Nations (UN) resolutions. Wattoo said that it was the founding leader of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who said that we would fight for Kashmir for one thousand years and gave rebirth to the Kashmir dispute; and Benazir Bhutto ensured participation of the Kashmiri leadership in the OIC Conference. He said that PPP had a history of its commitment to the Kashmir issue and there was no question of departure from Pakistan's just stand to resolve the dispute according to wishes of the people of Kashmir, as envisaged in the UN resolutions. The minister said that India was violating the Indus Water Treaty, adding that the treaty was signed without consultation and consensus of the people of Pakistan, due to which there were some inherent flaws in its terms. He told the seminar the present political government of PPP was in the process of removing those flawed terms, so that India should not be able to take water from the rivers reserved for Pakistan, as was the purpose of the treaty. The minister stated that President Asif Ali Zardari was the first president in the history of the country who himself gave up his powers and empowered parliament. "All powers lie with parliament and president is merely a ceremonial head of the state, as desired by the 1973 Constitution," he added. While describing the role of the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, Wattoo said the ministry was a bridge between the federal government and the government of Azad Kashmir, and it had no other role in the affairs of Azad Kashmir, adding that Azad Kashmir government was fully independent and freely took its decisions. He emphasised that the present government had strengthened the federation by empowering the provinces. Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment Act 2009 was an evident example of the governments' policy towards empowerment, the minister added. Wattoo said that due to the government's policies America and India were ready to talk to us on equal terms. "Our government' stand on ban of NATO supplies has forced the US to come to terms with Pakistan. Parliament will decide the future of the NATO supplies," the minister maintained. He emphasised that no solution to the Kashmir dispute was possible without participation of the Kashmiri leadership and that only the options acceptable to the people of Kashmir and their leadership should be discussed. End.
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