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| As Manohan prepares for J&K visit, Mirwaiz wants dialogue on itinerary | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 21: While New Delhi is reported to have made some back channel engagements for reviving peace dialogue on Kashmir, the Hurriyat Conference has said that it was ready to welcome the Prime Minister in Kashmir if initiates any meaningful dialogue.
Newly re-elected chairman of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s statement comes in the immediate backdrop of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declaring irrelevance of the separatist thought. The Prime Minister had said in his independence day speech that overwhelming participation of the people in last year’s assembly elections and this year’s Lok Sabha elections had left no scope for the separatist thought in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, said on Monday that he would welcome a visit to the state by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Kashmir Valley if he initiates steps to resolve the long pending Kashmir issue. Addressing a gathering on the occasion of Eid, Farooq said: Today, I would like to welcome India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is coming to Kashmir in some days if he announces some steps to solve the Kashmir problem.
Farooq will leave for New York on Tuesday to attend a ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) contact group on Kashmir, to be held on the sidelines of the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
He has also been invited to the annual co-ordination meeting of OIC foreign ministers on September 28. The Centre has permitted him to attend these meetings in New York.
Earlier in a newspaper interview, Mirwaiz said the he wants to revive peace talks with New Delhi to find a solution to the Kashmir issue. Mirwaiz said he also hoped to initiate a dialogue simultaneously with Pakistan to push the peace process forward.
“Hurriyat is very serious and very keen, we want to resume dialogue with New Delhi and we want to initiate a dialogue with Islamabad,” Farooq said in an interview. “Military means, use of force, oppression has failed. I am hopeful now that India realises a growing urge for solution of the Kashmir issue.”
Mirwaiz’s new call for dialogue reflects public sentiment in favour of further efforts to find a solution to the separatist issue. Srinagar has been virtually free of violence for a year and tourists are returning.
Hurriyat started talks with New Delhi in 2004, the first between the two sides. The latest round of Kashmir talks was held in May 2006. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Hurriyat agreed then to establish a system to discuss solutions to the dispute over Kashmir, dating from the partition of the subcontinent.
“I am hopeful that a process will restart and yield results fast if India releases prisoners, gradually withdraws troops and repeals the black laws,” added Mirwaiz.
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