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Pak says it will continue raising Kashmir at world fora

Pakistan has said it reserved the right to raise the Kashmir issue at international fora and that the Lahore Declaration did not preclude this option.

An official spokesman was responding to a query during a weekly briefing yesterday on a recent interview in an English language daily. It quoted Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh as saying that the reaffirmation of the Simla Agreement in the declaration precluded third-party mediation.

The spokesman said it was well within Pakistan's right to take up Kashmir at international fora. ''We have been doing this in the past and will continue to do so,'' he said.

Referring to Article Six of the Simla Agreement which committed India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with United Nations conventions, the spokesman described Kashmir as a disputed territory and said it would remain so until the people there get their right to self-determination.

UNI

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