Islamabad: Pakistan is willing to engage India in dialogue on all outstanding issues but will not make any compromises on the Kashmir dispute, President Asif Ali Zaradri said today as people across the country observed Kashmir Solidarity Day.
"Let me reiterate today that we are willing for peace with India. We are looking to be partners with India and sharing the region in a peaceful manner but not at the price of my brothers and sisters in Kashmir," Zardari told an event held in the presidency on Saturday evening to mark the day.
Addressing a gathering that included federal ministers, leaders of political parties and diplomats, Zardari said the "thousand year war" over Kashmir envisioned by Pakistan People's Party founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was "still on" and had not ended though the ways and tactics had changed.
"Today it is not politically correct to raise weapons and go to war but we must engage India," he said. Zardari quoted Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's remark at the UN General Assembly in 1963: "Let the chains break, free the Kashmiris and have the friendship of Pakistan."
Zardari assured the Kashmiri people on behalf of Pakistan and the PPP that "all decisions will be made at the table through negotiations but Pakistan will not compromise on Kashmir". Noting that the Kashmir Solidarity Day is being observed in the presidency, he remarked: "It may be possible that our future generations may sit at the table where India can be forced to give Kashmir to Pakistan. We will take it.
"But this should not be taken to mean that we don't want friendship with India. We want friendship with all neighbours in the region but on the basis of equality and principles."
Zardari's remarks came a day ahead of a crucial meeting between Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan one the margins of a SAARC conference in Bhutan. The top diplomats are meeting to explore ways to revive a peace process that has been stalled since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
While repeatedly referring to Kashmir as the "jugular vein" of Pakistan, Zardari pointed out that PPP founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto laid the foundation of the party on the Kashmir dispute.
He said he wanted to give hope to "peaceful agitators and stone pelters" in Jammu and Kashmir by reminding them that "their movement has a place in the hearts of all Pakistanis".
Pakistan has fought two wars and "lost half its territory" over Kashmir and the country will continue to press for a solution of the dragging dispute in line with UN resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people, he said.
"We today reiterate that Pakistan is willing to talk to our neighbour on all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, but not without the permission of the people of Kashmir," he added.
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