President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Masood Khan and Prime
Minister Raja Farooq Haider and Defence Minister Khwaja Asif
were among the participants of International Seminar that
gathered scholars on Kashmir from Europe and North America.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz
said Jammu and Kashmir remained a core issue between Pakistan
and India and was also the longest unresolved item along with
Palestine issue on the UN agenda.
He said three successive generations of Kashmiris had
been struggling for their right to self-determination in 70
years despite harshest measures taken against them by India.
He said the Kashmir movement was indigenous and could
not be equated with terrorism.
He mentioned that funeral of Burhan Wani was attended by
200,000 people and the movement was sustained for five-long
months despite Indian pressure.
Aziz pointed that the ratio of Indian security personnel
in Jammu and Kashmir were far larger than civilians and said
there was a growing realization even in India about the
treatment being meted out to Kashmiris.
He also mentioned as disturbing the reports of India
seizing property and freezing bank accounts of some Kashmiris.
Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in his
speech said the parliament had passed over a dozen resolutions
in support of Kashmiris.
He said Kashmiris were facing the brutalities of
genocide, detentions, murders and fake encounters and
mentioned that more than 6,000 people in the Valley suffered
pellet gun injuries.
He said Kashmir remained a bone of contention between
Pakistan and India, adding that the latter had been
disproportionately spending on defence.