PoK PM welcomes Manmohans Line of Peace idea

Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan has welcomed Indian PM Manmohan Singhs proposal of transforming the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan into a Line of Peace, saying the suggestion is very positive and realistic.Khan welcomed the idea while refuting the claim of some observers that the India-Pakistan peace process has been derailed in the wake of recent surge in violence in Islamabad and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Toronto, July 22 : Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan has welcomed Indian PM Manmohan Singh's proposal of transforming the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan into a Line of Peace, saying the suggestion is very positive and realistic.Khan welcomed the idea while refuting the claim of some observers that the India-Pakistan peace process has been derailed in the wake of recent surge in violence in Islamabad and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

"On the contrary, some positive events are taking place on the Kashmir front. For instance, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his recent statement said that the Line of Control could become a Line of Peace with a freer flow of ideas, goods, services and people," the Dawn quoted Khan, who is currently on a visit to Canada, as saying.

"For sixty years, we have lived with tension and periods of violence, both internally and in our relations with Pakistan. It is time to make a genuine effort to build peace and create the conditions for a historic reconciliation of hearts and minds in our region," he quoted Manmohan Singh as saying.

Khan went on to say that the peace initiatives taken by President Parvez Musharraf and Manmohan Singh had been commended by the international community.

"Peace is a universal need and we Kashmiris also want peace in South Asia...It is our sincere desire that the Kashmir issue be resolved through dialogue," he added.

Manmohan Singh said on last Sunday that borders between India and Pakistan could be made irrelevant, and the LoC could become a Line of Peace while expressing the hope that the ongoing bilateral dialogue would one day make Jammu and Kashmir a symbol of India-Pakistan cooperation rather than of conflict.

"There can be no question of divisions or partitions, but the Line of Control (LoC) can become a Line of Peace with a freer flow of ideas, goods, services and people," Singh said at the convocation ceremony of the Jammu University.

ANI