India, Pakistan must resolve Kashmir issue peacefully: Pak Army chief Bajwa

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Feb 03, 2021:    Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has called for resolving the Jammu and Kashmir issue in a "dignified and peaceful manner" between India and Pakistan.

 

General Bajwa was speaking at the graduation ceremony at the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Asghar Khan Academy in Risalpur in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He said, "Pakistan and India must resolve the longstanding issue of Jammu and Kashmir in a dignified and peaceful manner as per the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir."

Emphasis on resolving the Jammu and Kashmir issue by India and Pakistan in a peaceful manner is significant in the wake of Pakistan insistence on third-party mediation in the past.

"We stand firmly committed to the ideal of mutual respect and peaceful co-existence. It is time to extend a hand of peace in all directions," he said.

Pakistan occupied territories of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 months after the Partition. India pushed back the intruding force of Pakistan Army and tribal militia after Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India. Later, the matter was referred to the United Nations, which held the merger as valid and asked the two countries to maintain status quo till the issue is resolved through a plebiscite. India was tasked with the responsibility of holding plebiscite after Pakistan withdrew from the entire occupied area. Pakistan never withdrew.

The two countries have fought three wars in the region. Currently, most parts of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan falls under the territorial jurisdiction of Ladakh Union Territory created in 2019. The rest of PoK falls in the territorial limits of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Courtesy:India Today