Hizb chief Salahuddin terms Manmohan Singhs proposal as being ignorant of ground realities

Syed Salahuddin, the Chairman of the United Jihad Council and chief of the militant organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, has termed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs proposal to transform the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan into a Line of Peace as being devoid of ground realities.

Islamabad, July 18 : Syed Salahuddin, the Chairman of the United Jihad Council and chief of the militant organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, has termed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposal to transform the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan into a 'Line of Peace' as being devoid of ground realities.

"It's not the LoC, but the line of conflict which has divided our motherland and separated tens of thousands of families and estranged relations between people," the dawn quoted Salahuddin, as saying.

He further claimed that Kashmiris had never accepted the 'bloody line,' and said how could a line, which had triggered the massacre of over 500,000 people, be referred to as a symbol of peace.

Salahuddin said that peace could not be established by making pledges of development or paying attention to economic, fiscal and social problems of the Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Ladakh regions.

The Kashmir problem was a six-decade-old reality, and said it was meaningless to talk about other rights while ignoring the self-determination right of the Kashmiris, he asserted.

A friendship bridge between Pakistan and India could be built only when the people of Kashmir are given their right to live, he said.

"Kashmiris are a peace-loving people, and their homeland can turn into a real territory of peace, once India ends its illegal occupation and provides them a chance to decide their future with their own free will," he added.

ANI