PM deviating from Pak’s K-position, says Shehbaz

Islamabad, July 24: Pakistan’s Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday rejected Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks that Islamabad would let the people of Kashmir decide if they want to join Pakistan or become an “independent state”, saying he was deviating from the country’s “historical and constitutional position” by proposing a second referendum other than the one mandated by the UN. Departing from Pakistan’s declared policy on Kashmir, “The entire nation rejects anything other than Pakistan’s historic position on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and UN Security Council resolutions,” he said.

“The Jammu and Kashmir dispute will be decided according to a transparent and independent plebiscite held under the auspices of the United Nations and this is the position of the people of Pakistan and Kashmir,” he said.

He said that “imposing a solution on Kashmiris without their consent and consultation is tantamount to helping India and betraying the Kashmir cause.”

Separately, Maulana Fazlur Rehman of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) also criticised the remarks of Khan at an election rally in PoK, saying it proved the concerns of the Opposition that the current government was following former president Pervez Musharraf’s policy to make “unilateral concession on Kashmir”. Imran Khan's stance is the same as that adopted during the tenure of former president General (Rtd) Musharraf, he said. —

● HE SAID that “imposing a solution on Kashmiris without their consent and consultation is tantamount to helping India and betraying the Kashmir cause.”