Mush has no authority to reject independence for J

Srinagar, Dec 8 (UNI) Democratic Liberation Party (DLP) chairman Hashim Qureshi today said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was a ''dictator'' who had no authority to reject the option of ''independence'' for Jammu and Kashmir.

''He (Gen Musharraf) has no mandate. He is a dictator...and has no authority to reject the option of independence for Jammu and Kashmir. The people of the state and not the Pakistan President can decide their future,'' Qureshi told a news conference here.

President Musharraf's latest four-point formula on Kashmir was ambiguous on certain points which needed to be clarified, he added.

''We neither fully support Gen Musharraf's proposal nor reject it. The formula is ambiguous on certain points which need to be clarified by the Pakistan President himself,'' Qureshi said.

The DLP chief said Gen Musharraf must clarify if the proposal for self-governance in Jammu and Kashmir would be applicable to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) as well.

Dismissing as ''unrealistic'' the proposed joint management, Qureshi said he had ''serious doubts'' if the formula would be accepted by both India and Pakistan.

Qureshi had hit international headlines when he along with his cousin Ashraf Qureshi hijacked the IA Fokker Friendship plane (Ganga) on a flight from Srinagar to Delhi in 1971. The aircraft was later blown up at the Lahore airport after the passengers alighted in the presence of then Pakistani leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

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