PPP reiterates its Kashmir policy

The spokesperson of PPP co-chairman has said that the remarks of Asif Ali Zardari about Kashmir in an interview to an Indian channel have been quoted out of context in a section of the media. In a statement here on Tuesday, Farhatullah Babar said that Pakistan People's Party is committed to resolution of the issue with self-respect and honour.
He said that in the said interview Asif, articulating the Party's position, had stated that the PPP believes in conflict management and simultaneously creating a trading bloc of nations to improve living conditions of people of South Asia and at the same time enhance confidence as key to resolution of outstanding issues.
The PPP believes that peace requires patience and that confidence building measures are required to create a climate for durable peaceful relations, he said. The PPP is in favour of normalisation of relations with India as well as enhancement of Saarc as a trading bloc. In this context the Party proposed soft borders as far back as 1999.
Earlier the PPP introduced the South Asian Preferential Tariff Agreement and the concept of visa-free travel in Saarc for parliamentarians and judges, he said. "It is the PPP vision that while not giving up unilaterally the UN resolutions, we should also not let any single issue hold hostage the relations in the South Asian subcontinent."
He said that progress on Indo-Pak issues has been substantive and durable during PPP tenures as is evidenced by the Simla Agreement, the non-attack on each other nuclear facilities and the South Asian preferential tariff that took place during PPP tenures. The PPP sees the people of Kashmir as key to a final settlement of the Kashmir issue, he said. The PPP believes that as a party of the masses it is in a position to build an internal consensus on a durable peace with its neighbour on the basis of honour and self-respect.
The fate of one billion people of South Asia hangs in the balance. It is the people, and the people alone, who can decide about the future of South Asia. An enduring peace demands that South Asia move forward with the support and blessings of the true representatives of the people, he said.