Pakistan should pull out of Kashmir: Pakhtoon leader

Islamabad Aug 18 (IANS) Pakistan should take the first move to let Kashmir be free by withdrawing from the region a leader from the Khber-Pakhtoonkhwa province bordering Afghanistan said on Friday.

"Why don t we adopt a new policy on Kashmir? Let Kashmir be free from both India and Pakistan. Why not we take the first step to solve it?" asked Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai.

He told the BBC that Pakistan if it pulls out of the part of Kashmir it holds would be able to tell the world that it was sincere in resolving the dispute with India.

He said Pakistan needed to make peace with its neighbours Afghanistan Iran and India.

Pakistan holds the northern third of Jammu and Kashmir while India controls the southern two-third. Both countries claim the whole of the state.

Last year the Pakhtoon nationalist leader had stoked a controversy after he reportedly said that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province belongs to Afghanistan.

--IANS
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