Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 14: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) High Court, Justice (retd) Abdul Majid Malik today categorically stated that people in his territory are peace loving and never supported any sort of terrorism or violence against Jammu and Kashmir. He stressed the need to immediately bring an end to the status quo on the relations between divided parts of Jammu and Kashmir by allowing free movement of people from both sides of the Line of Control for strengthening the trust and mutual confidence.
In an exclusive interview to EXCELSIOR, Justice Malik said, “we are against any sort of violence against any State or country so the question of supporting terrorist activities against Jammu and Kashmir doesn’t arise. We only believe in love and affection that is why we are taking part in the cross-LoC civil society dialogue, which is aimed at bringing together members of civil society from both sides of LoC to discuss common concerns and joint initiatives for strengthening peace and widening peace constituency”.
“Neither we have role in the ceasefire violations nor we support perpetration of terrorist activities from our soil. We never supported Pakistan agenda against India. We believe in plain speaking. What I am stating here I have stated in Islamabad a number of times”, Justice Malik said, adding “the fact is that we are the sufferer of hostilities between India and Pakistan and want an end to the same”.
In response to a question, Justice Malik said, “though movement of trucks between divided parts is a positive step towards normalizing relations between India and Pakistan, no significant progress has been made in building trust and mutual confidence, which is our prime concern”, adding “we want those Confidence Building Measures, which remove barriers on free movement of people between the divided parts once for all”.
He, however, regretted that artificial hurdles are being created on one pretext or another just to prolong the status quo on the relations between divided parts of the Jammu and Kashmir. “Such a status quo would not auger well for any side and people of divided Jammu and Kashmir would be the main sufferers of such policies”, said Justice Malik, who is also the president of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League.
When asked about repeated cease-fire violations and terrorists training camps in PoK, he said, “had I been the policy maker in Pakistan I would have certainly stopped all this forthwith. We have no role to play in formulating Pakistan policies. We are not consulted on any issue”, adding “if India feels there are such camps in PoK, which according to me are not existing in our soil, then it should make best use of science and technology and expose such camps before the international community”.
When his attention was drawn towards the continuous support of Pakistan to the terrorists and Mumbai attack, Justice Malik said, “I condemn such incidents. But why the people of un-divided Jammu and Kashmir are made to suffer because of such inhuman acts. We cannot be pushed to the walls because of blasts in Mumbai or in Karachi. Why cannot we be allowed to decide our fate, make good use of our available resources and strive for progress”.
Justice Malik, who had declared the Gilgit Baltistan as part of Jammu and Kashmir in his judgement in 1993, claimed that Sheikh Abdullah was not acceptable in Jammu region of undivided State. “Ghulam Abbas, who was one of the founders of Jammu Kashmir Muslim Conference was the mass leader in the region and under his leadership Muslim Conference got thumping majority in the Assembly”.
Responding to a question about violence in Pakistan, he said, “the present situation is beyond the control of the Government there. The prevailing situation might be the outcome of Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan”, adding “Pakistan is facing challenging situation at the moment and only a visionary leadership can get the country rid of the violence. But unfortunately I don’t see such leadership at present and this is the bad luck of Pakistan”.
About judiciary’s role in Pakistan, Justice Malik said, “unlike past the judiciary is presently emerging very strong in Pakistan. People want judiciary to play more constructive role as they suffered a lot because of dictatorship”.
Stating that Army was playing major role in sabotaging democracy in Pakistan, he said, “this is mainly because of the reason that on the pretext of liberating Jammu and Kashmir from India, Army was given whatever it demanded and now the same is proving counter-productive”.
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