ISLAMABAD – Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on NationalSecurity and Strategic Policy Planning, Dr Moeed Yusuf on Friday said Indiawas stuck in a difficult position in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu andKashmir (IIOJK) and “unable to figure out what to do. “
Its move of August 5, 2019 had expectedly backfired and it had lost Kashmirfor all practical purposes, Dr Moeed said in his exclusive interaction withAPP.He said : “The future of Kashmir dispute is that India will have to holdplebiscite as per the United Nations (UN) Resolutions to give Kashmiristheir just right to self-determination as there is no other workablesolution to the issue.”
“There is a list of things (pre-set conditions) that India will have to doby force, due to Kashmiris or do it voluntarily and come to the table andhave a conversation so that bothcountries can move forward.”
The SAPM emphasised that the pre-conditions, set by Pakistan, were thebenchmark for any dialogue process with India, if it was serious to holdtalks on Kashmir. The first question to any such Indian proposal was thateither it was serious or not and if India could fulfill the pre-requisite.
To a question, he said: “We stand on our principled stance about the73-years old dispute and no overnight change could be expected on IIOJK.But, we are aggressively countering the narrative that India used to sellto the world which is not being accepted now.”
He said the sort of pressure India is under and the negative publicity ithas received in western media had not happened for many decades. “Theefforts by Pakistan and Kashmiri diaspora are bearing fruit and things arechanging in a propitious way.”ALSO READ Govt allows PDM to hold public meeting in Jinnah stadium: Shiblilink
With regard to the domicile issue in IIOJK, Dr Moeed categorically statedthat Indian move to provide domicile to non-Kashmiri residents was illegalwhich the UN framework did not allow, adding, “If a plebiscite is heldtomorrow, none of them will be considered and any plebiscite would becarried out on the position when there were no forced demographic changesin IIOJK. The UN is responsible for ensuring free and fair plebiscite.”
Read Top Stories
In his comments on National Security Threat, he said such issues were basedon timelines as they vary from short-term to long-term scenarios.
He said :“If the question is of present (in the short-run), then India andlack of peace in Afghanistan are national security threats to Pakistan.” Inthe long-run while moving forward, climate and security, food and energyand water were the perils to national security, he added.
Dr Moeed Yusuf said that there was a trust deficit in Afghan leadershipwhere Pakistan also remained skeptical at times as there had been issuesbecause Afghans did not pay heed to its narrative. “India has beenemploying Afghan territories against Pakistan and created misunderstandingsbut now Pakistan has managed to improve the situation.
The Afghan leadership has come to realize that it was only Pakistan thatcould have helped get the Intra-Afghan Peace process to its present shapeand would assist in its meaningful conclusion.”
When asked about issue of firing from Afghan side on Pakistani check posts,the SAPM said the matter was raised at relevant forums from the day onewhere all parties including the US and interlocutors of peace process wereapprised. “It is just a senseless loss of lives that takes place whetherthere has been any issue or not because only innocent people have beenkilled.”
