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Hurriyat reacts angrily to Annan's remarks

The Hurriyat Conference Sunday reacted angrily to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's remarks that the Lahore Declaration and not UN resolutions could solve the Kashmir issue accusing the world body of being "biased" and "shirking its commitments" to Kashmiris.

While there was no official comment on Annan's remarks in Islamabad former prime minister I K Gujral asked Pakistan to seriously consider the UN chief's remarks.

While Hurriyat chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat refused to comment on Annan's remarks, two senior leaders of the separatist conglomerate said the UN could not escape its responsibility in solving the issue.

Former Hurriyat chairman Syed Ahmed Shah Geelani said "if he (Annan) has said like that it is not appreciable and it would not be wrong to say then that the UN is inactive and biased."

"It is the moral obligation of the UN to resolve the long-standing problem and use its influence to force the solution," Geelani said.

Another former Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said "such statements give a hint that the UN is shirking its commitments made to Kashmiris."

Gujral said Annan's observations that the 1999 Lahore Declaration could hold the key for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue "deserve very serious consideration by the Pakistani authorities."

Pointing out that it has been India's known stand that talks with Pakistan can be held under the Simla Agreement and Lahore declaration, Gujral said India should sustain the momentum.

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