Peace in region not possible sans Kashmir solution: Fakhar

ISLAMABAD: Ex-Speaker National Assembly (NA) and Chairman Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Syed Fakhar Imam said Pakistan was getting benefits due to its geographical and strategic position in the region.

“Pakistan currently was now on a positive way as not only successfully tackle its internal security issues but also the United States Congress acceptance of Kashmir as a key issue between Pakistan and India were major success

of on-going Pakistan’s diplomacy on Kashmir,” he said in a panel interview with the Jang Group — Jang, The News and Geo News — here on Thursday at the Parliament House.

Syed Fakhar Imam said unless and until the Kashmir issue not resolved the peace in the region was not possible. “Today, the fourth generation of Kashmir took up the flag of the freedom movement into their hands and now the freedom slogans were being echoed in

every corner of the occupied Kashmir,” he said.

While answering to the questions of Jang Group with regard to Political and economic issues and the role of the Parliament in this regard, Fakhar Imam said that there was a need to make Pakistan economically strong for the freedom of Kashmir and have to follow Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who stated that, “We have to move forward with other nations of the world.”

He said China in last 70 years turned into economic superpower of the world and now playing a key role in the decision making in the global politics. “China brings out its 700 million population from poverty in last 30 years while we failed to bring out 60 million population from the poverty,” he said. He said 25 million children of Pakistan were out of school, 50 million youth jobless and 3.7 million are child labour.

“Our water reservoirs are reducing dangerously at low level and it was being feared that Islamabad will have serious water crisis in coming years, “he said, adding that the country have 155 dams, Japan has 316 dams, India have 5102 dams, China has 23842 dams, USA have 9265 dams and Egypt have 1000 dams while we have storage capacity for only 30-days.

Syed Fakhar Imam said, “We have to think that what kind of Pakistan was leaving for our next generation. “We have to put the country on the economic and trade path for the better future of the next generation. We have to give a focus on education for the economic progress,” he said.

The Kashmir Committee chairman said with the basic and normal education, there was need to focus on technical and vocational training to enhance the technical capacity of the youth of the country in line of Japan, Korea, Germany and other countries of the world and brought the agricultural and industrial revelation.

He said ex-president of China Deng Xiaoping, in the decade of 1970s sought to enroll of 20,000 Chinese students into American universities and today around 266,000 Chinese students were studying the American universities.

Syed Fakhar Imam said the youth of Kashmir were looking towards prosperous, strong and progressed Pakistan. “The freedom movement of Kashmir is homegrown and their freedom movement is not result of any external interference but against the Indian brutal policies against people of Kashmir,” he said. He said the India has seemingly helpless before the passion for freedom of youth of Kashmir. “India should realise that it could not suppress the voices of the people by force,” he said.