Separatists oppose conversion of de facto Kashmir border
Kashmir’s main separatist alliance said the conversion of the de facto frontier between India and Pakistan in Kashmir into a permanent border will not solve the dispute over the picturesque Himalayan region. “We do not believe that converting the LoC into a permanent border or granting autonomy (to Kashmir) will resolve the issue,” Kashmir’s main separatist alliance the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) said in a press statement on Sunday. Most of the Indian and Pakistani zones of Kashmir are separated by a 742-kilometer (465-mile) de facto border called the Line of Control (LoC). A visiting leader of Pakistan’s radical Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) Islamic party Saturday said in New Delhi he had no objection to making the de facto frontier a permanent border. Full Story