WHERE the Biden administration’s stance on the Kashmir dispute is concerned, up till now it has veered between ambiguity and the status quo. While the State Department published a tweet calling the held region “India’s Jammu & Kashmir”, its spokesperson later said Washington’s position on the dispute has not changed. However, the tweet was not corrected. Considering this ambiguous stance, the foreign minister has rightly asked the US not to overlook the ground realities in the held region. “I expect the new Biden administration . to stop ignoring the ground realities in held Kashmir” Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday. Indeed it is a pity that the Biden White House which has touted respect for human rights as a key pillar of its foreign policy has so far failed to take up the abysmal human rights situation in India-held Kashmir with New Delhi. Like many previous US administrations, it looks like Joe Biden might reserve opprobrium for geopolitical opponents percei
KOTLI: Prime Minister Imran Khan addressing a public meeting to mark the Kashmir Solidarity Day on Friday. INP
MUZAFFARABAD: In a path-breaking announcement in his key address at a public meeting in Kotli on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday announced that people of Kashmir would be at liberty to decide if they want to be part of Pakistan or as an independent nation even after deciding accession to Pakistan in a United Nations-sponsored referendum.
Accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Minister for Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur, Mr Khan made this announcement at the public meeting organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in a playground.
Chief Minister Mahmood Khan leads a Kashmir Day rally in Peshawar on Friday. (Below from left) A driver departs the starting point in a jeep race in Indus River, Swabi. Cyclists pass through Northern Bypass Road during a race in Peshawar. Dawn/White Star
PESHAWAR: The government departments, political parties and civil society organisations held events, rallies and corner meetings across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday to express solidarity with the people of the India-held Kashmir in their struggle for realising their inalienable right to self-determination under the UN resolutions.
Chief Minister Mahmood Khan led a rally in the provincial capital, where a large number of schoolchildren, elected representatives, political activists and government functionaries were present. The rally started from the chief minister’s secretariat and ended at the Governor’s House.