Search:



The Web

Rediff








Home > News > PTI

Imran Khan wants Swiss model for Kashmir

November 05, 2004 18:50 IST

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Friday favoured a 20-year moratorium on the Kashmir dispute for normalisation of Indo-Pak ties and differed with Pakistan's cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan, who suggested a Switzerland-type of status for the state.

Also Read


I am not the power behind the throne: Sonia


Khan, president of the Tehreek-e-Insaaf party, emphasised the essentiality of ascertaining wishes of "genuine representatives" of Jammu and Kashmir who could be chosen through "free and fair elections under UN supervision in the entire undivided state in demilitarised condition."

"For a solution to the Kashmir issue, we can look at Switzerland where people of different ethnicities live in an autonomous and proper democratic set-up. Kashmiris may like to have such a system," he said.

Abdullah, sharing dais with Khan at 'Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative Conference' in New Delhi, differed on this solution and favoured grant of "maximum autonomy" to all parts of the undivided state under the prevailing structure.

The National Conference leader suggested conversion of Line of Control into a "soft" international border across which people of the state could freely "meet, interact, do business and even marry."

"Frequent people-to-people interaction will help overcome the misgivings regarding the other part of Jammu and Kashmir prevailing due to ignorance," he said.

 



Article Tools
Email this article
Top emailed links
Print this article
Write us a letter
Discuss this article










More reports from Jammu and Kashmir
Read about: Terrorism strikes in Jammu and Kashmir | Kargil Crisis


© Copyright 2004 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.










Copyright © 2004 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.