PPP defends Benazir's commentson Kashmir

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, NOV. 27. The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) today sought to defend the comments made by its leader, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, in New Delhi in the last two days on Kashmir and restoration of democracy even as representatives of some political parties and a section of the press dubbed them as `unpatriotic'.

Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi, Press Secretary to the Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, rejected Ms. Bhutto's contention about the links between the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Al-Qaeda and asserted that an `indigenous freedom struggle' was going on in Kashmir.

Maj. Gen. Quereshi said there was no connection between what was going on in Kashmir and terrorism. That the whole world was in agreement with this assessment was evident from the interaction Gen. Musharraf had with a number of world leaders in the last few days.

Pro-government leaders termed Ms. Bhutto's comments in regard to Kashmir as ``highly deplorable.'' The Pakistan Muslim League (PML) leader, Mr. Ejaz-ul Haq, said that Ms. Bhutto's assertion was a setback not only to the ``martyrs'' of Kashmir but also Pakistan and the two-nation theory. A number of other leaders have assailed Ms. Bhutto's statements.

However, the acting Secretary-General of PPP, Mian Raza, rejected the criticism saying the attack was based on either political animosity towards her or misreading of her actual remarks. Ms. Bhutto had not ignored the Kashmir issue. In her press conference she had recalled her party's support to the ``right to self- determination'' for the Kashmiri people and the U.N. resolutions on Kashmir.

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Section  : International
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