By IANS
Shimla : Pakistan's Leader of Opposition Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman said here Saturday resolution of the Kashmir issue is central to normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan.
"Solving the Kashmir issue is the first and last essential," said Rehman, who is the parliamentary leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal party (MMAP).
He was speaking at a two-day meeting of lawmakers of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries here.
This is the second such meeting to be orgainsed by South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA). About 80 parliamentarians from all the eight SAARC countries are taking part in the seminar inaugurated Saturday by Lok Sabha speaker Somanath Chatterjee.
On the issue of building a gas pipeline across Iran, Pakistan and India, the Pakistani opposition leader said: "Global powers have no business in interfering and telling us what to do."
"We need to solve this on our own and not allow Western powers to dictate terms to us as they have their own agenda," Rehman said.
He emphasised "regional problems need a regional approach."
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to address the meet Sunday.