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Kashmiris want

accession to

Pakistan: Sikandar

LAHORE: The President Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sikandar Hayat, has said that the Kashmiris struggling for their inalienable rights wanted accession of Kashmir to Pakistan to complete the aims and objectives of the Pakistan Government.

Addressing the annual prize distribution ceremony of Moon Star School here at Al-hamra Hall on Saturday the AJK President said that all the Kashmiris considered themselves Pakistanis first and Kashmiris afterwards as they have deep rooted relations with Pakistan.

He said that there was no proposal of third option in Kashmir as all the Kashmiris living in Azad Kashmir and even in occupied valley wanted to live with Pakistan.

Sardar Sikandar Hayat said that Kashmir is part of Pakistan and added that occupied Kashmir, which is under the control of Indians by force, also wanted to become part of Pakistan but could not do so due to Indian pressure.

The AJK President urged upon the media to highlight the Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir and promote the cause of Kashmir freedom-fighters through giving extensive space and coverage.

Appreciating the role of private sector in the promotion of educational facilities, the AJK President said that government alone could not meet the requirements without the cooperation of the private sector.

He said that AJK government has taken a number of steps for the promotion of education which has resulted in achieving 45 percent literacy rate. He said the primary education was 95 percent in the AJK and added that 90 percent female population has been provided facilities of primary education.

FREEDOM STRUGGLE

ADVOCATED AT UNHCR

MEETING IN GENEVA

LONDON: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director of the Kashmiri American Council (KAC) made the intervention during the current session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on Agenda item 8, "the question of human rights of all persons subjected to any form of detention or imprisonment".

Last year when he intervened in the commission's 51st session", Dr. Fai said, he had hoped that he would not have to return here to tell the Commission about the tragedies that the people of occupied Kashmir face in the 49th year of Indian occupation.

He said his presence here once again was to apprise this Commission about the crimes of the Indian occupation forces against the people of Kashmir. Dr. Fai told the Commission that Jalil Andrabi, Chairman, Kashmir Commission of Jurists is not here today because he was arrested by the paramilitary forces of India, while he was driving home with his wife on March 8. Later his dead body was found floating in river Jhelum with his eye balls gouged out and arms cut.

He said last year, he had pleaded in the UN sub-commission that human rights could only be restored by allowing the people of Kashmir to exercise their right of self-determination that was promised to them by both Indian and Pakistan and the United Nations.

Dr. Fai further said the solution to these sufferings and pain in Kashmir is both urgent and vital. It is far more populous and strategic area that other trouble spots in the world. The pain felt by the people of Kashmir is no less devastating than that felt by the people of Haiti. The unclear tinderbox in South Asia is no less threatening than in Korea.

Dr. Fai said the struggling people in Kashmir attached great hopes in the United Nations he confident that the Commission will not let them down.-APP/PPI