Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz is a former Union Minister

Yesterday, Soz said Kashmir's first choice is independence. He was expressing agreement with former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf. Today, he backed Musharraf's 'workable' solution, said Pakistan can govern PoK

by Mausami Singh

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) can never be a part of India unless there's a nuclear war between the two nations, the senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz said today.

Yesterday, Soz controversially said he agreed with Pervez Musharraf, a former president of Pakistan, on the point that Kashmiris "don't want to merge with Pakistan; their first choice is independence".

Citing reports on comments made by Soz and his party colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Congress leaders had undermined India's sovereignty.

When Azad, the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said Army operations in Kashmir had killed more civilians than terrorists, the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba was reported to have expressed agreement.

India considers the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, including the part occupied by Pakistan, to be a part of its territory. This month, after the United Nations published a report on human rights in Kashmir, an MEA spokesperson pointed out that "the incorrect description of Indian territory in the report is mischievous, misleading and unacceptable."

"There are no entities such as "Azad Jammu and Kashmir" and "Gilgit-Baltistan"."

But today, Saifuddin Soz backed what he called Pervez Musharraf's "workable solution". He said Pakistan can govern PoK, while India can govern the Kashmir Valley.

As well, he thinks there shouldn't be any boundaries between the part of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan, and the rest of it. And what about Ghulam Nabi Azad's remarks on the Army? Saifuddin Soz thinks the top Congressman said nothing wrong.

Soz said the Army has misused the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and killed civilians.

Saifuddin Soz with his new book

Soz new book, 'Kashmir: Glimpses of History and the Story of Struggle', will be released on Monday. He responded today to his own party's charge that he's trying to sell the book by making controversial remarks.

"[Congress spokesperson Randeep] Surjewala should read my book...I have written in my book about Sardar Patel...[he] had offered Kashmir to pakistan in lieu of Hyderabad," Soz said.

"It is in the records [that] it was only because of Nehru, his love for Kashmir, that it is with us".