Minister Raja Farooq Haider And Defence Minister Khwaja Asif

(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 05th Jan, 2017 ) Minister Raja Farooq Haider and Defence Minister Khwaja Asif were among the participants of International Seminar that gathered scholars on Kashmir from Europe and North America.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Jammu and Kashmir remained a core issue between Pakistan and India and was also the longest unresolved item along with Palestine issue on the UN agenda.

He said three successive generations of Kashmiris had been struggling for their right to self-determination in 70 years despite harshest measures taken against them by India. He said the Kashmir movement was indigenous and could not be equated with terrorism.

He mentioned that funeral of Burhan Wani was attended by 200,000 people and the movement was sustained for five-long months despite Indian pressure.

Aziz pointed that the ratio of Indian security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir were far larger than civilians and said there was a growing realization even in India about the treatment being meted out to Kashmiris.

He also mentioned as disturbing the reports of India seizing property and freezing bank accounts of some Kashmiris. Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in his speech said the parliament had passed over a dozen resolutions in support of Kashmiris.

He said Kashmiris were facing the brutalities of genocide, detentions, murders and fake encounters and mentioned that more than 6,000 people in the Valley suffered pellet gun injuries. He said Kashmir remained a bone of contention between Pakistan and India, adding that the latter had been disproportionately spending on defence.