'Do not curb movements of Kashmiri leaders'

Islamabad, May 28: Pakistan today asked India not to curb the movements of Kashmiri leaders, stating that its policy is reflective of the aspirations of people of the state of Kashmir.

''The Kashmiris have repeatedly supported Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's proposal for resolution of the longstanding dispute,'' Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said at a weekly press briefing here.

She said in his proposal, President Musharraf had suggested the identification of regions as a first step followed by de-militarisation, self-governance and joint management.

She rejected the assertion that the latest Kashmir report of the European Parliament nullified UN Security Council resolutions about a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to decide its fate.

The European Parliament has no mandate to do that and only the UN Security Council could revise its resolutions, Ms Aslam added.

She said the report has been widely amended but it is not balanced and still carries inaccuracies. She pointed out that Kashmiris all over the world have rejected the report.

She was critical of the Indian government's denial to Kashmiri leaders to travel to Pakistan to attend the Pugwash meet, an NGO.

She said last year such a meeting was held in Pakistan and ''we facilitated the Kashmiri leadership to enable them to have interaction with each other.'' She hoped that India would also do the same.

The spokesperson emphatically stated that no Indian prisoner of war was in Pakistani jails.

About the visit of some Indian families to Pakistan from first of next month, she said these families were impressing upon their government for a visit to Pakistan and the visit is taking place at the request of the Indian Government to assuage worries of these families. They have been allowed to visit ten Pakistani jails.

She said the issue of civilian prisoners is more important and there is need to activate the judicial committees agreed upon by the two sides to resolve the problem.

Answering a question, she said the allegations of gold trade against peacekeepers in Congo were not against the Pakistani troops but against the UN peacekeeping forces and the world body is investigating the matter. They have so far not found any substantial evidence in this regard.

UNI