KL Desk

SRINAGAR

The Indian arm of an Indo-Pak lobby group has questioned the accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India by calling it a “disputed region”.

It has called for the removal of the Army from the state and described Pakistan as a “serious victim of terrorism”. The Mumbai wing of the Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) issued a statement on its 20th anniversary meet held in New Delhi.

It described itself as an organization that brings cultural exchange “between India, Pakistan and the disputed region of Jammu & Kashmir”.

PIPFPD is known for seeking freedom for Indian and Pakistani prisoners held in each other’s jails. It also facilitates exchanges and meetings between journalists, artistes and intellectuals of both countries. Mumbai activists Jatin Desai and Pushpa Bhave are members of PIPFPD.

“The Kashmir issue is the core issue between India and Pakistan. We believe Kashmir is a trilateral matter to be resolved by India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris themselves. The zone must be demilitarized and AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) revoked,” Desai is reported to have said.

The statement says that “it is only the soldiers’ sacrifices for the nation that are taken into consideration, the others are taken as nothing but collateral damage”. PIPFPD said India should not have raised the issue of Pakistani terrorism with US President Barack Obama along the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York.

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