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Musharraf constitutes National Kashmir Committee

K J M Varma in Islamabad

In an attempt to alter the image of militancy in Kashmir, the Pakistan government on Wednesday constituted a National Kashmir Committee to be headed by the former president of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Mohammed Abdul Qayyum Khan.

An official announcement in Islamabad said President Pervez Musharraf constituted the committee under the chairmanship of Qayyum.

A moderate, Qayyum is opposed to the involvement of terrorist groups in Kashmir.

The former PoK president said after his appointment that India and Pakistan should give peace a chance.

"I am opposed to violence as a means to achieve the right of self determination", he told Indian journalists.

Besides opposing violence, Qayyum praised the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and welcomed several Indian peace initiatives, including the Ramzan ceasefire last year.

The members of the committee would be drawn from Pakistan's four provinces, besides the Northern Areas, PoK and overseas Pakistanis and Kashmiris.

The first meeting of the committee, scheduled to be held on January 15, would be addressed by Musharraf himself, the announcement said.

It said the mandate for the committee would be to project the Kashmir cause at the international level and mobilise world opinion to settle it according to the United Nations resolutions, besides highlighting alleged human rights violations by the Indian security forces in Kashmir.

The constitution of the committee was timed to coincide with on-going crackdown on militant groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba following allegations of their involvement in the attack on Parliament.

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