SRINAGAR, Aug 18: An influential committee trying to bring peace to Indian Kashmir raised the possibility on Sunday of postponing state elections in order to persuade more Kashmiri separatists to take part in the poll.

Kashmiri separatists have so far refused to participate in the elections due in September and October, complaining they have been rigged in the past to favour the ruling National Conference, a pro-Delhi Kashmiri party.

The Kashmir Committee of academics and journalists, which held talks with Kashmiri separatists over the weekend, said there was a demand to postpone the poll.

“I hope the Election Commission will take note of this widespread demand,” committee chairman Ram Jethmalani told a news conference in Srinagar.

“Speaking on behalf of the committee we do believe that this demand is not unreasonable,” he added.

Though the committee has no official status, Jethmalani represents the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the upper house of parliament, and is a former law minister.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment on Jethmalani’s remarks.

India’s Election Commission said earlier this month it had fixed dates for the elections in India’s only Muslim-majority state, to be held in four rounds starting on September 16, with counting due on October 10.

President Pervez Musharraf last week dismissed the election plans as a farce and an attempt to legitimise India’s “illegal occupation” of Kashmir.

Islamabad says Kashmiris should be allowed a plebiscite to decide whether to belong to India or Pakistan, in line with United Nations resolutions passed in 1948 and 1949.

New Delhi says Kashmir is an integral part of the country, ceded legally to it after the subcontinent was partitioned into Muslim Pakistan and mostly Hindu, but secular India in 1947.

Some Kashmiri separatists have said would be more amenable to take part in the elections if they were held under the auspices of the state governor rather than the ruling National Conference.

The Kashmir Committee said it was “slightly disappointed” it had so far failed to persuade the main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, to take part.

But it said talks would continue to try to find a way out of the Kashmir dispute, which is at the heart of a military standoff between India and Pakistan.

A joint statement released on Saturday by the Hurriyat and the Kashmir Committee said the next round of talks would take place in New Delhi, but did not say when.—Reuters

SHABIR SHAH: A top separatist leader has agreed to take part in upcoming elections in Indian Kashmir provided they are linked to seeking a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem, an Indian government-backed committee said on Sunday.—AFP