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Afrasiab urges Clinton to press for solution of Kashmir dispute

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Justice Raja Afrasiab Khan (Retd) has sent a letter to President Bill Clinton requesting him to visit Pakistan and exert pressure on India and Pakistan for settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN resolutions.

In his letter, he also requested the US president to give him time for meeting either in Pakistan or in the United States, so that he could explain to him the case of the oppressed people of Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that India and Pakistan have fought four wars over the dispute of Kashmir but the issue still stands unresolved. It is the oldest dispute of the world, which needs to be resolved in accordance with the principles of justice, fair play and equity, he said.

He said that the UN had unanimously passed a resolution, giving people of Jammu and Kashmir the right to self-determination through an impartial and free plebiscite.

He said in the letter that India did not want to settle the controversial issue through the free will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. India has forcibly occupied a major part of Jammu and Kahmir and deployed more than seven lakh troops to crush the freedom struggle of the Mujahideen. Women are being subjected to torture and rape. More than 70,000 innocent people of Kashmir have been killed by the Indian Armed Forces.

He said the people of Kashmir do not want to live with India at any cost. They wanted to settle the controversy themselves on the basis of their own free will.

He said, "If the United States does not step in to intervene and resolve the Kashmir dispute, India and Pakistan may destroy themselves."