Islamabad, Apr 25: Urging the United Nations Secretary General to visit Jammu and Kashmir, the President of Muslim Conference and former Prime Minister of Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK), Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, has said that Kashmiris’ willingness to a negotiated peaceful settlement of long-running Kashmir dispute provides a unique opportunity to India and Pakistan to explore further ground for negotiations.
Khan made these assertions in his communiqué addressed to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who is arriving in India on April 26 for a three-day visit. Seeking the world body attention towards Kashmir issue, he said, “The recent most shocking tragedy of snow avalanche in Siachen devouring precious lives of 139 persons in uniform has once again underscored the urgency of settling the dispute of Jammu and Kashmir, a lingering dispute on the rolls of the UN Security Council.”
He said that it was a natural reaction that whenever a calamity of such gruesome scale occurs in any part of the state, the people start looking towards the world arbiter- the UN.
He reminded the Secretary General that the Siachen tragedy has yet again refreshed the sentiments of the people of Kashmir.
Referring to East Timor, Khan in his communiqué pointed out that many complex issues of global peace and security have been settled elsewhere in the world. Under the given circumstances, he said that the unresolved Kashmir dispute was itself a great tragedy and a challenge for the world at large. “Whenever a world scholar browses the pages of history he/she stumbles upon the unresolved dispute of Kashmir,” he said. “The unsettled dispute of Kashmir is a sheer shock and awe,” he added.
Urging the Secretary General to visit Jammu and Kashmir at this hour of grief as a contribution towards humanitarianism, the MC President said, “The presence of your good self in Kashmir would itself constitute an occasion of vitality for a move towards Kashmir solution.”
“In the light of the Kashmir resolutions of the UN Security Council, Kashmiris favour a negotiated peaceful settlement of this dispute. This willingness of theirs provides an occasion of positive progress. Both Pakistan and India can build on this positivism as a basis to explore further ground for negotiations, giving opportunity of participation to Kashmiris as well,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST