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Is US using the Kashmir issue to try and get a permanent foothold in South Asia? Post your views

Islamabad: Pakistan on June 6 responded to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's statement on Pak- occupied Kashmir (PoK), claiming that the whole of Jammu and Kashmir is a "disputed territory" and its status was yet to be determined as per the United Nations resolutions.

As far as Pakistan was concerned, the whole of Jammu and Kashmir was a "disputed territory" and its status was yet to be determined as required by the UN Security Council resolutions, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said in an interview to India's 'NDTV' on June 6.

Kasuri claimed that this position had been maintained in the Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration.

Kasuri was asked about Vajpayee's remarks on June 3 that if talks have to begin with Pakistan on Kashmir, then they would have to start with the part of Kashmir, which is under Pakistan occupation.

He said that as far as Pakistan was concerned, PoK had its own President, Prime Minister, Supreme Court as well as its own Parliament, whereas that was "not the case with Indian occupied Kashmir".

He also claimed that Pakistan provided full access to Human Rights groups and the international media to visit PoK. But India did not allow entry of international media into Jammu and Kashmir, he was quoted as saying.

PTI