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RI calls for resumption of talks
Indonesia has called on India and Pakistan to resume peace talks to settle their dispute over the predominantly Muslim Kashmir, after a recent uprising raised tensions between the two nuclear countries
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ndonesia has called on India and Pakistan to resume peace talks to settle their dispute over the predominantly Muslim Kashmir, after a recent uprising raised tensions between the two nuclear countries.
“We call on them to resume peace talks, including upholding UN resolutions on Kashmir that have been issued three times,” Hamzah Thayeb, the Foreign Ministry’s director general for Asia and Pacific affairs, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
India and Pakistan both claim the entire Kashmir area they share in the Himalayan region as their own. Peace negotiations between India and Pakistan stalled for almost two years after Pakistani militants attacked New Delhi in 2008.
The UN Security Council first issued resolutions on Kashmir in 1948, calling for a referendum to determine whether the future of Kashmir would be with India or Pakistan, but they have not been implemented.
“Both countries have to settle their issue amicably based on the UN resolutions that Indonesia recognizes... We will not take sides, but we are ready to get involved if both countries seek Indonesia’s help in facilitating peace negotiations,” said Hamzah.
A forum held at the Pakistan Embassy on Wednesday was attended by an Indonesian group that rallied support from Muslims to protest India’s crack down on their “Kashmiri freedom fighters”.
Pakistani Ambassador to Indonesia Sanaullah told the discussion forum the Muslim world should insist that India give Kashmiri people the freedom to determine their own future, including the option of independence through a referendum.
Indian Embassy’s first secretary Sugandh Rajaram said Wednesday that India requested that Pakistani troops first withdraw from the territory they occupied in Kashmir if Pakistan wanted a referendum.
Mohamad Asruchin, from the Foreign Ministry, said Kashmir was a bilateral dispute and Indonesia would not intervene without being asked.
