Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said the resolution of the Kashmir dispute is necessary for durable peace in the South Asian region.
Addressing a ceremony in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in memory of the thousands of people who died in the
2005 earthquake in the region, Gilani said the resolution of the Kashmir dispute has been the cornerstone of the foreign policies of the ruling Pakistan People's Party.
The current government is also committed to this stance and Pakistan will continue to extend political, moral and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir, he said.
The people of PoK and Jammu and Kashmir were inseparable, he said. "We are one and will remain so," he added. Gilani, who made a day-long visit to Muzaffarabad, said there was "no change in Pakistan's principled stance on Kashmir".
He added that his government's decision to give internal autonomy to the Northern Areas, which have been renamed Gilgit-Baltistan, will not have any "negative impact on Pakistan's position on the Kashmir dispute".
He recalled that Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, had described Kashmir as the "jugular vein" of the country. The same stance has been adopted by the PPP, Gilani said.