Kashmir should assume centre-stage in talks: Jilani told
05 July, 2012
NEW DELHI: The top pro-liberation leadership of occupied Kashmir including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Syed Ali Gilani and Yasin Malik have stressed that Kashmir should be the core issue in the talks process between Pakistan and India. The Kashmiri leaders said this during their separate meetings with visiting Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani in New Delhi. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq led an eight-member APHC delegation, which among others included Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Professor Abdul Ghani Butt, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Ghani Lone and Agha Sayed Hassan Al-Moosvi in the talks. The two sides expressed similar views on the need to involve the Kashmiris in the dialogue process. Later, APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq talking to a Srinagar-based daily said that he apprised Jilani about the prevailing situation in Kashmir. "I told him that it is unfortunate that no headway is being made vis-à-vis Kashmir. Nothing has moved despite several rounds of Indo-Pak talks. Talks seem not serving any purpose. We stressed the need to push for final resolution to the dispute during our interaction," he said. He said he told visiting Pak delegation that Kashmiri leadership was neither against Indo-Pak parleys nor CBMs. "Our sole concern is that Kashmir issue should be resolved according to wishes and aspirations of people of Kashmir. "We told him, it is ok to go ahead stepwise but there is no visible forward movement and the process is going on round and round in a circle", the Mirwaiz said. Emerging from the meeting, the APHC Chairman said that the Hurriyet felt that solution to all problems could be found through dialogue. He reminded the Foreign Secretary that Kashmir was not a territorial dispute. Describing Kashmir as the core issue between the two countries, he stressed that only a process-based endeavour and not an event-based effort such as the present would deliver a solution. Mr Jilani, according to Mirwaiz, said the Pakistan government is sensitive to all issues pertaining to Kashmir. He also pledged to continue the diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmir cause. He said the Foreign Secretary has also invited the Hurriyet leadership to visit Pakistan in September or October. Mirwaiz said Jilani assured them that Kashmir would be main issue during country's talks with India. He said they apprised the Foreign Secretary about India's insincerity towards settlement of the Kashmir issue. "We informed Pakistan that India has not considered their proposals which included demilitarisation." The veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani during his meeting with Jalil Abbas Jilani, said, "Relations between India and Pakistan cannot be strong enough till the Kashmir issue is resolved." Syed Ali Gilani in a media interview in New Delhi said he reminded Pakistan Foreign Secretary that it was incumbent upon Pakistan to push for the Kashmir settlement on priority. "It's moral, diplomatic and democratic responsibility of Pakistan to pressure India to resolve the six-decade old Kashmir dispute in its historical background," he said. "I told the Pakistan Foreign Secretary that the bilateral talks are a futile exercise and there has been no forward movement on any issue earlier." He also prevailed upon the Foreign Secretary to press for involvement of Kashmiri leadership in the talks. "There can be no forward movement unless Kashmiris were made part of the talks who are the main stakeholders in the dispute," a spokesman quoted Syed Ali Gilani having said. According to the spokesman, the veteran leader raised the issue of human rights abuses, use of Public safety Act against youth, his round-the-clock detention at his Srinagar residence and India's attempt to change demography of Kashmir during meeting with Jilani. Meanwhile, JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik during his interaction with the Foreign Secretary said Kashmir's transition towards peaceful struggle should be acknowledged by the two countries and they should push for its settlement as soon as possible. India and Pakistan cannot afford to freeze the Kashmir issue. If they don't resolve the problem, it will have far reaching consequences and younger generation can once again explore the option of taking up the arms," he said. End.
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