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Kashmir's Freedom Raises Hope for Other Indian Prisoners

By Fayaz Wani

Srinagar, March 5: While welcoming the release of Indian prisoner from Pakistani jails after 35 years, the pro-India chief minister of Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that it has raised the hope of early release of other Indian prisoners jailed in neighbouring country.

The pro-India Kashmiri leader said that he hoped the release of Kashmir Singh would herald the release of other prisoners as well.

Asked if efforts were being made to seek the release of prisoners from J&K that might be languishing in Pakistani jails, the Chief Minister of Kashmir said that the government of India had been pursuing with Islamabad the release of all Indian prisoners.

He said the matter was being pushed ever since the relations between the two countries had started improving.

In reply to a question about the recent statement of the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party, Asif Ali Zardari suggesting the Kashmir issue should not be allowed to become a stumbling block in the improvement of bilateral relations between India and Pakistan, he said that India had been always saying that trade, tourism, people to people contact and exchanges of journalists and politicians should go on side by side with the dialogue process. He said these things should not wait for the ultimate outcome of the peace process.

Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.