Islamabad welcomes Delhi’s invitation to APHC

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan has welcomed invitation extended by the government of India to All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mir Waiz Umar Farooq for starting negotiations over the Jammu and Kashmir issue.
Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman said on Friday that the government of Pakistan has always been of the view that the Kashmiri leadership should be associated with the dialogue process between Pakistan and India for final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
The Hurriyat leadership ‘s meeting with the Indian prime Minister would be continuation of the process initiated by the visit of Kashmiri leaders to Azad Jammu And Kashmir and Pakistan in June this year. The Government of Pakistan hopes that the meeting would strengthen the ongoing Pakistan- India peace process.
Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Omer Farooq has said that main emphasize of the APHC delegation during its meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be on an amicable solution of Kashmir dispute.
In an interview to Radio Teheran he said, all the three parties in the issue, India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir should start taking measures to resolve the longstanding issue.
The APHC delegation would hold talks on all the issues including human rights, political prisoners etc, Omer said adding “we hope the process would continue in the future”.
He said the APHC leadership is satisfied that Indo-Pak peace talks are moving in positive direction.
“Though we would like that the process would be speeded up, yet it is good thing that both the countries have been going ahead seriously”, he added.
To a question, he said, it is a ground reality that Kashmir is a controversial and unresolved issue. All the parties to this issue should keep this ground reality in mind.
If they really want peace in South Asia, then it is imperative that the issue of Kashmir is addressed, he added.
While expressing hope that Indian government would show flexibility in its attitude he said otherwise it would really be difficult to take the dialogue process ahead successfully. To another question he said, when serious efforts are made for the solution of Kashmir dispute, the element of violence would automatically be reduced. He said, if the Indian government is really ready to go ahead, the APHC can play a very positive role to create a conducive atmosphere for the solution of dispute.—APP