'Kashmir grateful for Turkey's support at int’l forums'

Kashmir is grateful for Turkey's support to the cause at international forums, president of Pakistan-administered Kashmir said on Friday.

"We are very grateful to Turkey for supporting the cause of Kashmir at international forums," President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan said.

He was speaking at a conference -- titled Kashmir Dispute and Role of International Community -- organized by Institute of Strategic Thinking in Turkey's capital Ankara.

"Turkey recognizes that the international community has to play a role in the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute," Khan said.

Khan stressed that Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has "initiated many efforts" in this regard.

He said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also brought attention to the dispute in the meetings of the OIC.

- INTERNATIONAL ISSUE
Khan stressed that the issue is not a bilateral issue between Pakistan and India as Jammu and Kashmir is the third party.

"My first premise is that Kashmir is an international issue and that it cannot be a bilateral issue," he added.

Khan said many rounds of discussions between Pakistan and India were "unproductive", and added: "Pakistan was sincere, India was not; Pakistan wanted a resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and India wanted to delay the process."

"India deployed 780,000 troops to conquer unarmed civilians in Kashmir," the president of Azad Kashmir said, adding: "They [India] tell lies about people of Kashmiris that they are terrorists, but they are unarmed people."

Khan said that the U.S. government and India "got aligned strategically" and that India has "succeeded in deluding" Washington that India would protect the U.S. interest in the region.

- KASHMIR
Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.


Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.


Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.