Delhi accepts APHC offer for dialogue: No conditions set
By Jawed Naqvi
NEW DELHI, Nov 21: India has accepted a proposal by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) for unconditional talks, a senior official said on Friday.
Minister of State for Home I.D. Swami said the talks would be held between APHC leaders and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani after a clutch of crucial assembly polls were over early next month.
“We are ready for an unconditional dialogue. In fact, we have been making it clear umpteen times that we have only one condition that the opposite party should abjure violence, which they (APHC) have done,” Mr Swami said, responding to a call by the APHC’s larger faction led by Maulvi Abbas Ansari.
Pakistan has informally announced its support for Maulvi Ansari’s rival, Syed Ali Shah Geelani who has been heading a rival faction, after simmering differences led to a formal split last month.
In Srinagar, Kashmiri spiritual leader Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar Farooq led Friday prayers at the Jama Masjid, where, he said, over 200,000 Kashmiri Muslims had gathered to express support for the APHC’s resolution demanding early talks between India and Pakistan.
“This was the biggest show of support for peace in recent memory,” Maulvi Umar told Dawn from Srinagar. “We have decided that Kashmiris and not anybody else will have to solve the problem, to which India and Pakistan are secondary parties.”
The APHC resolution, passed by a show of hands by the congregation, said: “We, the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir, people from all walks of life, are here today for a unique gathering on the occasion of the important last Friday of Ramazan (Jummatul Wida).
“We wish to resolve to bring about a change in our thoughts, ideas and attitudes that are at present so unsettled and bewildered in the midst of the dangers posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the region. Under these conditions, we resolve as follows:
a) We ask the leaders of all the various parties of Jammu and Kashmir that we transcend our various differences and pressure India and Pakistan to find an acceptable, dignified and durable solution to the Kashmir problem. We ask that towards this end, India and Pakistan should pay deep and special attention to this resolution that is being put forward by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
b) We note that the Kashmir problem has been the primary cause of the strained and negative relationship between India and Pakistan, which has also brought about a nuclear arms race between them. And because Kashmir is the foundation of this strained relationship, the solution to it is embedded in the Kashmir problem and it is time to resolve this problem. So this gathering of the people of Kashmir urges the people of India and Pakistan that they unite and, for the sake of the betterment of the region, forcefully influence their leaders to start meaningful political discussions towards the resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
c) This gathering notes that at this critical and decisive moment in history, we should put aside our petty differences and, giving weight to the wishes of the people of Kashmir, speak with one voice and adopt a single road.
d) At the international level, this meeting draws the attention of the world leaders and the intelligentsia to the Kashmir problem and the dangers it poses to the hundreds of millions of people of South Asia. The APHC and this gathering urges all of them to pressure the parties concerned to resolve the Kashmir problem at the earliest possible time and to pay special attention to the efforts that has brought about this resolution by the APHC.”
Earlier, Maulvi Umar Farooq told the congregation that Kashmiris had expected help from India and Pakistan just as they had hopes from the UN and the OIC. “We realize that after more than half a century of bloodshed of Kashmiris, no such help has come forth. It is for Kashmiris now to take charge of their struggle.”
