Sharif to take Kashmiri leadership on board before UNGA session

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is to consult the Hurriyat leaders and legislators of "Azad Jammu and Kashmir" ahead of his speech in the United Nations General Assembly later this month, a media report said on Thursday.

Welcoming the decision, Prime Minister of Pakistan-Administered Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider said the gesture would send a "positive message across the Line of Control".

"Prime Minister Sharif will visit Muzaffarabad on Friday before leaving for New York. He will consult the Kashmiri leadership regarding his speech at the UN session," Haider told Dawn News.

Sharif will hold separate meetings with legislators in the region and with a delegation of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, AJK chapter.

The prime minister will take the Kashmiri leadership into confidence over the content of his speech to be delivered at the UN General Assembly session.

On Wednesday, the UN rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein called for an independent, impartial and international mission to assess the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, where over 80 civilians have died in clashes with security forces since July 9.

Meanwhile, Pakistan, at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in a right of reply, again questioned India's "unabated atrocities" in Kashmir and urged the international community to come to the aid of Kashmiris facing "massive human rights violations".

Pakistan underlined that "India is in a state of denial about the facts on ground" in Jammu and Kashmir.

--IANS

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