Self-rule possible if India, Pakistan withdraw troops: Kashmir rebel --from Philstar

Self-rule possible if India, Pakistan withdraw troops: Kashmir rebel

08/18 5:03:33 PM


SRINAGAR (AFP) - Self-rule as a solution to the decades-old dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir is a non-starter unless troops from both sides are withdrawn, a top Kashmiri militant leader said in comments published Friday.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, moderate Kashmiri separatists and few pro-India Kashmiri leaders have been projecting self-rule as a possible solution to the dispute over the Himalayan region.

"The self-rule proposal (cannot) be implemented unless India and Pakistan withdraw troops from both parts of Kashmir," said Syed Salahudin, the supreme commander of the region's largest rebel group Hizbul Mujahedin.

"We will encourage any move that will lead to withdrawal of troops from both parts of Kashmir," he said in an interview published in local newspapers.

India and Pakistan hold Kashmir in part but both claim it in full. The archrivals have fought two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 over Kashmir and came close to a fourth in 2002.

Tension in the region has been exacerbated by an anti-India insurgency by Islamic militants, which began in 1989 and which by official count has claimed some 44,000 lives.

The revolt is led by Hizbul, which wants Pakistan incorporated into Pakistan, and Salahudin tops the security force list of "most wanted militants" for fomenting the violence.

"Once there will be complete withdrawal of troops and Kashmiris will take over the governance, then it will be a self-rule," said Salahudin, who is based in the Pakistani zone of the divided territory.

Self-rule however was not the total solution, he added.

"It is a part of the solution process and complete solution is right to self determination," he said referring to his group's call for a plebiscite that would allow Kashmiris to decide if they wanted the state to be part of India, part of Pakistan or independent.



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