Despite changing realities, Pakistan can’t abandon Kashmir: Minister

Islamabad, Feb 4 (IANS) Urging the international community to help resolve the Kashmir issue, a Pakistani Minister said despite the changing realities and difficulties, Pakistan would not abandon Kashmir, a media report said on Saturday.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, who was on a five-day trip to Washington, made the comments during a seminar on Kashmir.

He asserted that it was the international community's responsibility to help resolve the Kashmir issue, Dawn News reported.

In the seminar, held at the Pakistan embassy in Washington, the Minister said that changing realities had made it difficult for Pakistan to reach out to other nations. But "despite these difficulties, Pakistan can not abandon Kashmir", he said.

"If a referendum is not held in Kashmir, people there will be justified to think that the international community has double standards," the minister said.

"The world powers that had stakes in global peace and security must address the suffering of the people in Kashmir as they addressed the suffering of people in East Timor and South Sudan," he added.

Taouqir Hussain, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, explained how changing realities had made it difficult for Pakistan to advocate its case on Kashmir before the international community.

"India's growing economic and political influence were forcing other nations to seek closer ties with India, making them less inclined to hear Pakistan's arguments," Hussain was quoted as saying by Dawn.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)