May 13, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1424

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MUZAFFARABAD, May 12: The Hizbul Mujahideen said on Monday that it could take a step conducive for the success of dialogue provided India proved its sincerity and seriousness in this regard.

Talking to Dawn, the group’s supreme commander, Syed Salahuddin, said: “The first and foremost thing India needs to do is to accept that Kashmir is a dispute which is yet to resolved in accordance with the aspirations of its inhabitants.”

India must ensure that whatever talks were held were aimed at resolving the core issue of Kashmir in consultation with all the three parties to the dispute, he said.

“As a goodwill gesture, India should reduce the strength of its troops in the occupied territory to the pre-1989 position. It should abolish the draconian laws and operations of its forces in held Kashmir and release all the detainees languishing in different prisons,” Mr Salahuddin said.

If India took those measures, it would be an indication that it was sincere and serious to establish a durable peace in the region, he said and added that the Mujahideen would positively reciprocate the moves.

When pressed to elaborate, he said: “We can take such a step that will be conducive for the success of dialogue.”

“When India will accept the disputed status of Kashmir, reduce its troops, release the detainees and halt its operations, at that time, if we had to go for that (laying down of weapons), there is no harm in it. But I repeat that it is possible only when we see all those things on the ground,” he said.

He said the governments of India and Pakistan “with the mediation of the United States” were taking confidence-building measures, but what was needed was restoration of the confidence of the Kashmiris.

“The confidence of Kashmiris is shattered by successive Indian governments. They never fulfilled their commitments to us,” he said and added that everyone talked about confidence-building measures between Islamabad and New Delhi but no one had said or done anything to restore the Kashmiris’ confidence.

The leader of another Mujahideen group, requesting anonymity, said: “India should acknowledge the disputed status of Kashmir and withdraw its troops from the cities, towns and villages of held Kashmir.

“This will mean that India is ready to give up its traditional intransigence and is showing flexibility and the situation will consequently lead in a positive direction. And such a situation demands a positive response from the Mujahideen who will undoubtedly respond in the same way,” he said.

Though the groups do not clearly admit that they could go for a ceasefire, some analysts believe it could happen even if for a period of time.

“The government is facing pressure from Washington to control the militants and in my view Islamabad does not have the aptitude to resist that pressure,” Kashmiri analyst Syed Arif Bahar said.

He was of the view that the government might ask the Mujahideen to lay down weapons on the ground that the move would allow the peace process to advance positively.

“The existing Mujahideen groups will have to follow Islamabad,” said Mr Bahar. But, he added, a new “resistance force” could emerge in occupied Kashmir to work as a pressure group till the final settlement of the issue.