Be it Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti or PoK leaders, everyone’s employment is going on with the Kashmir issue, the bitter truth of Pakistani journalist became a problem for the organizers

The first literary festival held in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, backfired for the organisers. Wustullah Khan, one of Pakistan’s most prominent journalists covering the Jammu and Kashmir elections for the BBC, began his speech with a critique of Pakistan’s policies on East Pakistan in 1971 and on Kashmir over the past 75 years. Khan was to speak on a somewhat offbeat solution to the Kashmir issue. He insisted that Kashmir was not an issue but an industry for a large political class, his articulate speech triggering sloganeering from a section of the audience.

Pakistani journalist said sorry, Kashmir is not an issue. This is an industry. The livelihood of the Kashmir Committee is linked with this industry. The livelihood of Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and the entire political class of Azad Kashmir (PoK) is at stake. So why do I need to kick myself in the stomach with out-of-the-box solutions? Because of this (Kashmir issue) industry, we get vehicles, heavy allowances and 90 per cent of our budget from the Center (Islamabad). The administration is explaining the issue of Kashmir to the Kashmiris in Bradford (UK). When Wustullah Khan mentioned the policies of the Government of Pakistan in the last 75 years, slogans were raised from the crowd that this country is ours, we will decide it. He said that for 75 years similar slogans have been raised and only slogans have been raised.

Don’t make the mistake of reading our (Pakistan’s) Kashmir narrative. It is quite clear. The Kashmir policy of this state is well laid down. We must support it and move forward without making any attempt to find alternatives or out-of-the-box solutions.