Pak Prez hopes Holbrooke will work for resolving Kashmir issue

Washington, Jan 28 (PTI) Notwithstanding the Obama Administration's assertion that Kashmir is not in the mandate of Richard Holbrooke, President Asif Ali Zardari today hoped the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan would work towards a "just and reasonable" solution to the issue."We hope that the special envoy (Holbrooke) will work with India and Pakistan not only to bring a just and reasonable resolution to the issues of Kashmir and Jammu but also to address critical economic and environmental concerns," Zardari wrote in an opinion piece published in 'The Washington Post' in which he compared Kashmir with Palestine.The Pakistan President's statement comes a day after the US State Department categorically clarified that Kashmir is not in the mandate of Holbrooke."Well, it's not in his (Holbrook's) mandate ... To deal with the subject of Kashmir. His mandate is to go out and try to help bring stability to Afghanistan, working closely with Pakistan to try to deal with the situation in the Federally-Administered Tribal Area (FATA)," State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters yesterday in response to a query.Zardari, in his opinion piece, said that Holbrooke, with his experience, "surely understands that peace in our region can be secured only by addressing long-term and neglected problems." "Much as the Palestinian issue remains the core obstacle to peace in the Middle East, the question of Kashmir must be addressed in some meaningful way to bring stability to this region," he said.Whereas Holbrooke has been designated as Special US Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Zardari has identified him as a special envoy for Southwest Asia. PTI