Support to Kashmir freedom struggle to continue: Maleeha

Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has said 5th of February is a day to remind the world community to play its role in supporting Kashmiris to their political rights under the United Nations resolutions.

Speakers at a large gathering of Pakistani and Kashmiri community members in Chicago on Friday fervently called for a just and equitable settlement of the decades-old Kashmir dispute on the basis of United Nations resolutions that call for a plebiscite for the Kashmiri people to decide their future The gathering marked the Kashmir Solidarity Day which is held to commemorate the struggle of the Kashmiris people for their right of self-determination and to remember the countless sacrifices of those who had laid down their lives in the quest to attain their inalienable right to freedom. He said negative politics did give a lot of losses to Pakistan and added that positive politics be promoted to resolve all issues with mutual understanding and in a democratic manner.

At the same time, Dr. Lodhi said efforts were being made to resume the comprehensive dialogue with India for resolution of all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. “Unless we sit together and talk about these issues, they won’t be resolved”, Sharif told the assembly.

“It is an honour to say that AJK, along with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), will benefit from CPEC projects”, he said.

AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker Sardar Ghulam Sadiq Khan chaired the joint session that was attended by AJK President Sardar Yaqoob Khan, AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, Minister for Kashmir Affairs Chaudhry Barjees Tahir, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid, Adviser to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Dr Asif Kirmani and Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Chairman Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman.

He said his government wants to connect AJK with Pakistan with a network of roads and railway lines. He said that several projects in the AJK were part of the CPEC. The prime minister said that Pakistan and China have initiated a huge $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project which would usher in a new era of prosperity in the region.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan has assured cooperation to India on all issues including terrorism, adding no one could understand peace better other than Pakistan, which itself had been the target and victim of terrorism.

Sharif also announced assistance of 250 million Pakistani rupees (nearly $2.4 million) for development of the Pakistani side of Kashmir. He said that the federal government would provide Rs2. She expressed her views at the meeting organised by the Consulate General of Pakistan to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day. He said that there was a lot of improvement in the power supply situation and load shedding would end by 2018.