New Delhi: Echoing the thoughts of Parvez Musharraf, senior Congress leader and Union minister in the UPA-I government Saifuddin Soz has argued that Kashmiris do not want to merge with Pakistan. Their first choice is independence, stated Soz in his forthcoming book Kashmir: Glimpses of History and the Story of Struggle, which is scheduled to release next week.
However the Congress said that former Union minister’s comments are not the party’s opinion.
An excerpt from the book as quoted by The Print states “Musharraf had explained that if Kashmiris were given a chance to exercise their free will, they would prefer to be independent. In fact, this assessment of Musharraf seems to be correct even today.”
Soz advised the central government to first open a dialogue with the Hurriyat Conference before moving to mainstream parties to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.
It must be recalled that former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf in 2006 had said that if given a choice, Kashmiris would choose independence and would not want to be part of either India or Pakistan.