950825

Benazir attends

Akayev's banquet

BISHKEK, (Kyrghyzstan): Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Friday asked the international community to urge India to honour its commitments under the UN Security Council Resolutions on occupied Kashmir.

Addressing a banquet hosted in her honour by Kyrghyz President, Askar Akayev she said, people of Jammu and Kashmir are suffering an enormous human tragedy.

The cries of the Kashmiri people for freedom cannot be stifled by the oppression, unleashed by 600,000 Indian occupying troops, she said. "It is a spontaneous and indigenous uprising born out of broken promises and unfulfilled pledges."

A disillusioned and unarmed people are waging a valiant struggle, whose reverberations resound all around the world, she said adding, "India cannot subjugate a people, committed to deciding their destiny."

Showing her concern over the continuing conflict in Afghanistan the Prime Minister said, it "is a source of great anguish for us.

Welcoming the Prime Minister at the banquet, the Kryghyz President expressed his satisfaction with the negotiations with her for promotion of close bilateral relations.

Akayev offered broad cooperation with Pakistan for their mutual advantage on the basis of equality in different fields.

He said the people of his country are happy that the visit of the Pakistani Prime Minister coincided with the millennium celebrations of epic Manas, pearl not only of Kyrghyz but of the world culture. He said they attach great importance to this fact and realise its significance towards the revival of ancient links. He said central and South Asia for centuries had close relations and influenced each other and also mutually enriched intellectual treasures.-APP