Kashmir issue at top of Pentagon policy agenda, says Fai

ISLAMABAD (SANA): Executive Director Kashmir American Council/Centre Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, has asked the Pakistani government to call emergency summit of heads of state and government of Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to examine the lingering issue of Kashmir.

While taking to senior journalists here in Islamabad on Saturday, he said that India had sent message to U.S before the visit of President Barack Obama that president Obama should not talk about Kashmir issue during his Indian visit.

Ghulam Nabi Fai said that it did not happened as U.S president cleared his policy regarding Kashmir issue and declared Kashmir as disputed area and declined the New Delhi stance regarding Kashmir issue.

“America accepted the Kashmir as disputed area from the very first day and the President (Obama) reiterated this stance by declining the New Delhi opinion that Kashmir is an Integral part of India,” he said.

He said that Kashmir is at the top list of policy agenda of the Pentagon headquarters of United States’ Department of Defence, adding that that is why the General Mike Mullen said in Islamabad that they would assist Pakistan and India to resolve Kashmir dispute.

He said that the defeat of Democratic Party in the mid-term elections is due to unemployment in the US, adding that the recent visit of President Obama to India is a plan to explore the jobs for Americans in India.

Dr. Fai said that before the Obama’s Indian visit, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani visited the U.S to participate in the strategic dialogue between Pakistan and U.S and stressed upon the Americans that no progress would be possible until the resolution of Kashmir issue.

He said that the issue of Kashmir had discussed during the meeting between General Kayani and Robert Gates, adding that after the meeting a leading U.S newspaper revealed that Pentagon is forcing the government to make their role to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

He stressed on the Pakistani leadership to highlight this issue on international-level and built pressure on India to resolve Kashmir issue.

Pakistan should ask the OIC Secretary General Professor Dr Ekmeluddin Ehsanoglu to call urgent summit of OIC heads of state and government on the Kashmir issue, he suggested.

He said that Kashmir issue had connected with the solution of Afghanistan, adding that this reality had acknowledged by the U.S policy makers.

He said in that context the dialogue process between India and Pakistan should be restarted, adding that Kashmiri leadership has to entail in the composite dialogue between Pakistan and India.

He said that the media of the world including India is saying that the recent movement of Kashmiris for freedom struggle is locally motivated and Pakistan has nothing to do with the recent boost in freedom movement, adding that the support of this movement is mandatory on us.

Dr. Fai emphasized on the need of early resolution of Kashmir issue, saying that India and Pakistan have to start dialogue process while dialogue should be Kashmir centric.

He said that the people of are agreed on the opinion that Syed Ali Shah Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Shabbir Shah, Yasin Malik and Syed Salahuddin are real leaders of the Kashmiris. These leaders would decide about the representation of Kashmiris in the trilateral dialogues.

He said that Syed Ali Gilani is not a hardliner he reached on the conclusion after 108 rounds of talks held between Pakistan and Indian without bearing positive results, adding that after no positive results Gilani reached on the conclusion that the inclusion of Kashmiris in these talks is mandatory for making them result-oriented.