Aimal Wali accuses govt of Kashmir sell-out

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial President Aimal Wali Khan on Monday accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government of making a compromise over Kashmir during the recent visit of Imran Khan to the US.

Speaking at a press conference at the Bacha Khan Markaz, he asked the government to make public the terms of the ‘agreement’ over Kashmir. He said the nation needed answers and it was the government’s responsibility to provide details of the ‘agreement’ which authorized India to end the special status of Jammu & Kashmir.

The ANP leader said his forefathers had offered their good offices to the government of Pakistan for resolving the Kashmir dispute with India but was offer was rejected. He pointed out huge resources were spent on the Kashmir issue since independence. “We did not provide basic facilities to our children and allocated these resources for liberating Kashmir,” he argued.

Aimal Wali said ANP and the Pashtuns felt the pain of Kashmiris, adding that the followers of Bacha Khan supported the struggle of every nation living in suffering and subjugation.

He maintained that four generations of Pakistan made sacrifices for Kashmir but the government handed it over to India on the directives of US. He claimed that after Imran Khan’s return from the US a line of action has been adopted which, he feared, would prove detrimental to regional security.

The ANP leader said the world knew that an ME country was the main player in arranging the Trump-Imran meeting. A company of the ME country has concluded a $75 billion investment agreement with India that also included the promotion of tourism in Kashmir, he claimed.

Aimal Wali said that integration of Kashmir with India was done through a formula that was floated by former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf and finalized by Imran Khan’s government.

The ANP leader criticized the politicians and intelligentsia in Pakistan for raising voice over the brutalities in Kashmir but ignoring the plight of Pashtuns. He said these people should also raise their voice for Pashtuns who were not safe in Pakistan despite the passage of 70 years after independence.

“Pakistani politicians have time and again claimed that Taliban victory in Afghanistan is a victory for Pakistan,” he said. He argued these statements not only exposed Pakistan’s narrative about violence in Afghanistan but also proved that the key to the restoration of peace in Afghanistan was with Pakistan.

“They want resolution of the Kashmir dispute but at the same time want to fuel violence in Afghanistan,” he added. He recalled that his party leaders had been pointing flaws in Pakistan’s foreign policy but nobody paid heed to their criticism. “Now the world does not believe in our stance,” he said.