KNP Press conference in Islamabad 0n 19^th April 2009

Aslamo alaykam and greetings.

 Members of media, friends and colleagues on behalf of Kashmir National Party I welcome you all.

1. Our struggle was and still is for unfettered right of self determination. But we need to distinguish between right of self determination and right of accession, which has been advanced by Pakistan and their puppets to confuse the matter and fool people.
2. Our struggle is not against any religion or to promote any religion. Similarly we are not against India or Pakistan, or against their people; our fight is against their wrong policies on Kashmir. Kashmir belongs to people of Jammu and Kashmir and India and Pakistan have no right to decide our future.
3. Our struggle for independence was hijacked and was presented as a ‘Jihad’ which not only deprived us of international support, but also provided a propaganda stick in hands of Indian government to link it with Islamic fundamentalism. We opposed this ‘Islamisation’ and ‘Talibanaisation’, and warned the relevant authorities that it will change fundamental character of Kashmiri struggle; and it will create enormous problems for Pakistan as well. But at that time we were accused of being ‘anti movement’ and ‘anti Jihad’. Now that ‘jihad’ is being fought in various cities of Pakistan, as those ‘jihadies have turned their guns against Pakistan.
4. We only wish if Pakistani officials had listened to our concerns at that time. Now government of Pakistan is opposing and fighting terrorism in Pakistan, and we sincerely support that effort; but we hope that no Pakistani agency will sponsor ‘jihad’ or terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir which has already resulted in death of more than 70 thousand people. It also shattered the Kashmiri culture of tolerance and coexistence because in name of ‘Jihad’ innocent non Muslims were killed and uprooted; not to mention thousands of innocent Muslims who were targeted both by para - military forces and some militants.
5. KNP demand that all those who were uprooted from their homes should be settled back in their homes with dignity, honour and security. We also demand that human rights abuse must come to an end in all parts of the State, and policy of harassment, torture and culture of continued violence against the people must come to an end.
6. People of State of Jammu and Kashmir take pride in their identity and culture; and they want to preserve that at all costs. Government of Pakistan and thinking people of Pakistan should note that you your national interest to preserve and we have our national interest to protect.

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Overwhelming majority of people of the State don’t want to become part of Pakistan, and those who tell you otherwise are not being honest as they like to continue receiving Pakistani rewards.

7. You know what you people have made of Pakistan. It is not the Pakistan which Mohammed Ali Jinnah envisaged. It is not a Pakistan of those who saw a dream of having a country where Muslims will be safe, respected and honoured. You know what is happening in Pakistan, it is very unsafe country with bleak future. You can bury your head in sand and say it is not a serious problem, but reality is that Pakistan as a nation state is in serious trouble. In view of that ask yourself, who in right mind would like to be part of this Pakistan.

8. First priority of Pakistan should be to resolve its own problems. Make the country stable and respectable, but that could not be done by gradually surrendering to the USA on one hand and to the extremists on the other hand. Extremists who have taken control in Swat, in parts of Frontier and FATA will not stop there. They will march on to their next target, which will be Punjab and Karachi.

9. You cannot defeat terrorism by having a contradictory policy. If terrorism is bad in Pakistan, it is also bad in Kashmir and in other parts of the world where in one way or other it has been condoned and supported.

10. Terrorism breeds more terrorism. No matter how sincere one is, it is not possible to put out fire by use of petrol. You cannot have peace by use of guns and sponsoring extremism, hatred, violence and terrorism. Those who sincerely want to promote peace and fight terrorism have to promote policy of toleration and coexistence – they have to abandon policies of extremism and violence and come clean on this matter.

11. Despite opposition to us in person and our party- KNP we have consistently opposed policies of extremism and violence. We sincerely believe that dialogue is the only way forward, but you cannot have peace or dialogue when a gun is pointing at your head.

12. We believe Pakistan is going through very bad time and events in Pakistan also affect us, so we are seriously concerned about deteriorating situation in Pakistan. We have come here to see situation for ourselves, and meet our party leaders and workers; and other leaders in Kashmir and Pakistan that we can formulate appropriate policies to advance cause of peace.

13. We will also visit various towns in Pakistani Administered Kashmir, have press briefings and speak to people about the Kashmir dispute and our future strategy. Also we will speak to earthquake victims who still have not been appropriately compensated and settled. We will also speak to ‘victims’ of Mangla Dam upraising and see how they could be helped or their plight could be highlighted.

14. We will visit areas near LOC and Neelam Valley and speak to people about their problems and human rights abuse there. We strongly believe that human rights must be respected on both sides of the LOC and in Gilgit and Baltistan, and culprits of human rights abuse must be punished.

15. Apart from that we will speak to leadership of APNA and leaders of Gilgit and Baltistan and see how we can coordinate our activities to strengthen the cause of united and independent Jammu and Kashmir.

16. KNP leaders the demand the government of Pakistani Administered Kashmir to hold local authority elections without delay that people can elect their representatives. The last local elections were held in 1991, and people need to have local representatives to help them to resolve local issues.

The following leaders of KNP were present in the Press Conference: Abbas Butt (Chair), Sardar Mahfooz Tahir (Senior Vice Chair), Yasin Anjum (Chief Organiser), Ifzal Suleria (Deputy Secretary General), Nawaz Majid (Secretary General UK Zone) and Dr Shabir Choudhry (Spokesman KNP).