Geelani lauds firm Pak stand on NSA meeting

ISLAMABAD: Probably for the first time, All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC) leader, Syed Ali Geelani, in a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has lauded Pakistan’s firm stand on the recently cancelled National Security Adviser (NSA) talks when India tried to bully Pakistan into “conditional and limited talks”.
Though the letter made available to ‘The News’ from sources inside Srinagar is the talk of the Valley, a senior official at the Foreign Office says that as yet the government has not received it. The letter is in Urdu, not a language normally used by the Ministry for communication.
Syed Ali Geelani had sent the letter through Pakistan’s High Commissioner Abdul Basit and it was delivered by hand by three emissaries of Geelani, and by now it should have reached here through diplomatic bag.
“For this bold stand (of standing by the people of Kashmir) we are thankful to you, Pakistan Army and the Pakistani nation. We hope that in future, too, you will act with similar determination and courage and strengthen your Kashmir policy and also remain consistent,” Syed Ali Geelani wrote.
Geelani is now ready to release the letter to the Kashmiri media.
In his letter, (the highly respected Kashmiri leader who is the only name missing from amongst other Kashmiri leaders, who according to the latest book from a former RAW chief readily accepted funding both from Islamabad and New Delhi), praised Sharif for taking the right stand on Kashmir and not capitulating to India in reference to the NSA meeting, when New Delhi forbade Sartaj Aziz from discussing Kashmir and meeting the Hurriyat leaders.
Geelani had also accepted the invitation from Basit to attend a reception in honour of Sartaj Aziz.
The letter emphasised, “Kashmir dispute has once again resonated across the world.” He notes that Kashmir was not a simple border dispute between India and Pakistan but an issue which was alive with the concern to the right to self-determination by 13 million Kashmiris who remain the principal party to the dispute.
Sharif would do well to ponder over Geelani’s advice in which he says that Pakistan should also focus on its internal issues as a strong Pakistan is what Kashmiris want.
Given the regional situation, Pakistan should reach out to Afghanistan and Iran as India is all out to use its relations with these countries to keep Pakistan’s western borders unstable.
Praising Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Geelani wrote, “(Jinnah) has not called Kashmir as Pakistan’s jugular vein for nothing. We are aware that Pakistan is facing external and internal threats and is going through the most difficult phase in its history”, the “men of wisdom and patriots are at the same time of the opinion that Kashmiri people, apart from struggling for their freedom, are also fighting a war for Pakistan’s survival.”
Geelani pointed out that Pakistan would be faced with a host of defence and economic problems if India continued its occupation on Jammu and Kashmir. “India is a growing imperialistic power and its expansionist designs are extremely dangerous. India not only wants to continue its illegal occupation on Kashmir but this country is working on its long pending project to establish its supremacy and dominance over the entire South Asian region,” the letter added.
He points out that the case of Kashmiri people is very strong and if Pakistan remains firm on its stance on Kashmir, which is based on principles, India will become answerable to the world community and it will be left with no option but to give up its rigidity.
Reports coming in from Srinagar also speak of Geelani condemning the Public Safety Act which has been used to detain Hurriyat leader Masarrat Aalam Butt.
“Jammu and Kashmir is practically under the Martial Law. The law has been deliberately suspended here. The preventive detention according to the international laws is although a grave human rights violation, it is frequently and openly used here. Innocent people without any trial are imprisoned for years which is the worst kind of human rights violation”, Geelani told the Kashmiri media.