KARACHI, Feb 2: The chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, has asked the government to change its apologetic attitude on the Kashmir issue, adding that the people of Kashmir are well within their rights to wage an armed struggle for their freedom.

Addressing a press conference at the Idara Noor-i-Haq on Monday, he asked the government to continue backing and supporting Kashmiris in their just struggle for independence.

He said the whole nation should support their Kashmiri brothers and observe the Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5 in a befitting manner.

He said holding talks with India on the Kashmir issue would bear no fruit as long as India did not accept Kashmir a disputed region.

The JI chief recalled that it was India which had taken the Kashmir issue to the United Nations, but later didn’t accept the resolutions of the United Nations.

He said that the United Nations had categorically asked that the Kashmir problem be resolved according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people through a plebiscite.

These resolutions of the UN were sufficient to prove that the Kashmir was an international issue and must be resolved by the international community, he said.

He said India wanted to befool the world by terming the Kashmir issue a regional and bilateral issue. It was the responsibility of all nations of the world to help solve this long-drawn international issue for a lasting peace in South Asia.

Speaking about the country’s internal situation, he said that a lasting peace could not be established in Swat, Bajaur and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas unless the government ended its cooperation in the so-called war on terror, and stopped logistic support for the Nato forces in Afghanistan.

He said fighting an American war had proved a costly decision for the nation and could result in more serious consequences for the country.

He alleged that some personnel of agencies were blowing up school buildings in Swat to provide justification for the continuation of the ongoing military operation. He said that in the absence of peace the country’s economy could not be strengthened.

He urged the government to seriously focus on how to save Pakistan and strengthen its falling economy.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed also expressed concern over lodging of a case by Rawalpindi police against three missing youths of Karachi — Osama Waheed, Zeeshan and Sarfaraz.

He said police were trying to describe these youths as terrorists. He demanded of the government to immediately release these youths who, he said, were implicated in cases.—PPI