Imran government invites Opposition for talks on Kashmir action plan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has invited the Opposition for talks to chalk out a comprehensive action plan aimed at resolution of the lingering Kashmir dispute after the Senate saw the two sides engaging in a blame game over the issue.

"Let us join hands on this issue. This is a continuous battle and we will have to fight it collectively," he said on Tuesday after criticising the lawmakers from three mainstream opposition parties — the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and JamiatUlema-i-Islam (JUI-F) — with a forceful retort to their remarks and accusations over the government's handling of the Kashmir issue, the Dawn reported on Wednesday.

The foreign minister was winding up a discussion on Kashmir in the house to mark the Kashmiris' right to self-determination day.

On January 5, 1949, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had passed a resolution supporting the Kashmiris' right to decide their future by themselves through a UN-sponsored plebiscite.

PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman, while initiating the debate, noted that the Kashmir issue would have been in a different global dimension had Zulfikar Ali Bhutto been alive.

RanaMaqbool of the PML-N accused the PTI-led government of putting the Kashmir issue on the backburner. Maulana Abdul GhafoorHaidri of the JUI-F alleged that NarendraModi and Imran Khan had been brought into power under a plan for held Kashmir's complete occupation by New Delhi.

In his speech, Foreign Minister Qureshicriticised the opposition for using the Kashmir issue for political point-scoring and having the cheek to ask what the present government had done on the dispute.

He said working for the Kashmir cause was an obligation of the Imran Khan-led government and it would do its best with honesty and sincerity. (IANS)

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