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Kashmiri Leader Calls For U.S. Peace Role
WASHINGTON, Islamabad (Islam Online) – Kashmiri leader Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry appealed to U.S. President Bill Clinton to initiate a peace treaty to resolve the long-running Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India during his forthcoming South Asian tour.
"That is very essential for peace in South Asia," said Sultan Chaudhry, head of the Pakistani Kashmir government. Chadhury, who is Prime Minister in Azad, or Free Kashmir, the official name for the Pakistan-controlled part of the disputed Himalayan state, added that the 52-year old dispute could not be resolved without international mediation.
Chaudhry, just back from a tour of Britain and Belgium, said more than two dozen British representatives had set up a Kashmir Committee in the European Parliament earlier this month. He hoped that non-British members of the parliament would also join in the near future and the committee would mobilize international opinion in support of a solution to the Kashmir issue. The Sultan expected thousands of Kashmiris and Pakistanis living in the United Kingdom to play a more active role in British politics to help politicians sympathetic to their cause.
"We shall continue our support of the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination. Instead of threatening Pakistan and raising tensions, India should agree to a peaceful settlement of the dispute, which has caused two of the three wars between Pakistan and India,” said Sultan Chaudhry.
India blames Pakistan for fuelling the unrest, which has claimed more than 25,000 lives since 1989, a charge Islamabad denied.
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