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| Mirwaiz for 'bold steps' to resolve Kashmir issue | | Devious suggestion | | Rustam
JAMMU, Aug 27: APHC-M chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who has little or no say even in Srinagar, Kashmir, on Sunday urged Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan Premier notorious and utterly undependable Mian Nawaz Sharif to take "bold steps" to resolve the so-called Kashmir issue.
"Except for those who do not want peace in the region, nobody will gain if the present situation along the LoC is allowed to worsen...it (ceasefire violations) threatens to cause a setback to your intended efforts to work with each other to put India and Pakistan on the path towards peace," Mirwaiz told reporters conveniently ignoring the fact that it is Islamabad, Pakistani Army and Pakistan-based terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen which had been violating the LoC and international border since January this year almost on a daily basis.
In fact, Mirwaiz, who lives on the blood and sweat of gullible Kashmiri Muslims, released to the press a letter addressed to the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers urging them to de-escalate the growing tension on the border and LoC and engage in a direct dialogue with each other. "At a time when mistrust and hostilities are increasing, we feel that it is incumbent on the leadership of India and Pakistan to engage more directly, more urgently and more effectively in dialogue with one another," his letter, among other things, said.
"Indeed, it risks pushing south Asia towards the dangerous abyss of renewed confrontation, increased hostility, regional instability and even nuclear crisis…Both the countries (should) demonstrate statesmanship and take "bold and visionary decision. If bold and visionary decisions are taken today, they could yield an entirely new reality for the region. If India and Pakistan are able to engage with each other to improve ties and peacefully resolve their differences and if they are able to focus on a peaceful resolution of Kashmir conflict, a new era of stability and prosperity could be unleashed. Even if it involves some political risks and even if there are additional negative incidents, you must proceed ahead and meet directly with each other and start working to reduce the current level of mistrust and defuse the present tension along the LoC and elsewhere in the region…The two countries (should) take a leaf out of Israel-Palestine dialogue to commit in making a new beginning towards the peaceful resolution of Kashmir," the letter also said.
Mirwaiz not only pitched for a dialogue between the two Prime Ministers on the sidelines of UN General Assembly at New York in September, but also sought an "active" involvement of Kashmiris in the dialogue process, saying they are "masters" of their own destiny". "Kashmiris have a rightful place at the table and a primary decision making role in any negotiation process on Kashmir," his letter said.
Two things were clear from what he and his letter said. One, he considered both India and Pakistan responsible for the prevailing tense situation on the India-Pakistan border and LoC. It needs to be underlined that Pakistan has breeched the international border and LoC more than 60 times during the last few days and resorted to unprovoked firing on our soldiers, BSF and CRPF personnel several times culminating in more than 20 deaths. But Mirwaiz who represents only himself and a few other communal elements brazenly ignored this fact and, instead, tried to convey an impression that India was also responsible for LoC violations and unprovoked attacks on the Pakistani posts.
Two, he rejected the people of Jammu province and Ladakh regions, besides religious and ethnic minorities, including the victims of terrorism and secessionism, as just irrelevant. He committed a grave blunder by ignoring Jammu and Ladakh ignoring the fact that the people of these two regions are committed to India. He should have considered what happened across the Jammu province and in the Parliament in the aftermath of the engineered Kishtwar violence and stopped poking his nose in the India-Pakistan relations, but he did otherwise and spoke for one section of the state population. This policy had never worked in the past and it is destined to a failure in the future as well. Jammu and Ladakh are distinct identities and they cannot be taken for granted. |
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