APHC wants Kashmir solution to take shape

SRINAGAR—The APHC Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has said, the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh’s invitation for talks, amounts to a step towards accepting Kashmir as a party to the Kashmir dispute, reports Kashmir Media Service.
In an interview with Times of India, before his departure from Srinagar to New Delhi, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said, the invitation is also as an acknowledgement that last peace is possible only through a peaceful solution.
He said, “The dialogue process should build trust. Human rights violations that are continuing in Kashmir will be high on our agenda. Also will be the issue of political prisoners. There has to be a reduction in the presence of the armed forces in Kashmir. We want the government of India to scrap all the Acts, which allow them a free hand. We hope that Manmohan Singh takes some action on these so that trust is built between Kashmiris and the Indian state. Only then can the talks move towards a final resolution of the Kashmir dispute”.
Answering a question about the visit of APHC delegation to Pakistan Mirwaiz said, “it has taken us 57 years to go to Pakistan. You have to understand that Kashmir is not a territorial dispute but a problem of the people and their aspirations, and there is a Pakistan angle to it”.
Replying another question, he pointed out that “Peace is not going to come in a vacuum. People here have been oppressed for so many years. That is why the Hurriyat is making all efforts for a sustainable dialogue. The Pakistan visit was also to highlight the fact that Kashmir is not just a bilateral issue. That Kashmiris and their aspirations have to be taken into account”.
About participation in elections he said, “if elections are held with a neutral body which is not Indian, we will participate. But round one has to be a dialogue. Elections can be round two”.
A five-member delegation of Hurriyat Conference led by its chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq would hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh here tomorrow.
The PM-Hurriyat talks are taking place ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Pakistan President on the fringes of UNGA session in New York on Sept 14.
The Prime Minister has been briefed by senior officials, including Centre’s pointsman N N Vohra about the talks, held with the Hurriyat on January 22 and March 27 last year by then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.
The Hurriyat’s meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be its first rendezvous with the UPA-led dispensation since it came into power in May last year.
The five-member delegation led by Mirwaiz for talks with the Centre comprises Abdul Gani Bhat, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Gani Lone and Fazal Haq Quereshi.
Accepting the invitation extended by the Indian Prime Minister, the faction of Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq earlier decided to send a delegation for talks to find a “lasting and durable” solution to the Kashmir dispute.
It was unanimously decided to accept the invitation for talks by the Prime Minister with a view to proceed with seriousness to seek an acceptable and durable solution to issue of Kashmir issue in the larger interests of the people of the region, Hurriyat spokesman had stated.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq meanwhile said in Held Kashmir that Hurriyat talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September five will be “Kashmir centric”.
Other issues including Armed Forces Special Powers Act, release of prisoners and human rights situation in Indian Held Kashmir will also come up during the dialogue, he added.
Mirwaiz further said Kashmir was not a boundary issue but political one and talks were not aimed grabbing power or securing political or economic package but would be “Kashmir centric”.
“Kashmir is a political issue and it should be resolved politically. Kashmir is not a boundary dispute between the two countries. It is a long standing problem involving future of Kashmiris who want it to be resolved in accordance with their wishes and aspirations,” the Hurriyat Chairman added.
The purpose behind initiating the talks with India and Pakistan by Hurriyat was to find a honourable and just solution to the vexed issue of Kashmir, added the amalgam Chief.
Billing Singh’s invitation for talks as a positive step, he said “we want to carry forward the process of dialogue with both India and Pakistan so that the Kashmir issue is resolved”.
Observing that better relations between the two countries were necessary for resolution of Kashmir issue, the Hurriyat Chairman emphasized that without associating Kashmiris with the dailogue process, the issue could not be resolved.—APP