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| 01 November 2004 | Monday | 17 Ramazan 1425 |
Options first revealed to Mirwaiz: report
SRINAGAR, Oct 31: New ideas floated by President Pervez Musharraf on resolving the dispute over Kashmir were first revealed to a top Kashmiri leader before he went public with them last week, a report said Sunday.
President Musharraf on Oct 25 called for a national debate on ways to end the dispute between Pakistan and India, with options including independence or joint control of the region.
He also proposed demilitarising Kashmir and placing sections of it under United Nations mandate or under joint control.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who heads Indian Kashmir's main separatist alliance, met President Musharraf in Amsterdam in early October, Kashmir's largest circulation English daily, Greater Kashmir, reported.
"It was a chance encounter," the paper quoted Mirwaiz Farooq as saying.
Mirwaiz Farooq was allowed to go to Jeddah and London by the Indian authorities last month. The report said Mirwaiz Farooq flew to the Dutch capital later from London.
"President Musharraf made it clear that Pakistan was looking at different proposals for the everlasting solution to the (Kashmir) dispute," the newspaper quoted Mirwaiz Farooq as saying.
President Musharraf stopped in Amsterdam on his way back from the United States, where he had gone to attend the annual UN General Assembly session.
"His (Musharraf's) proposals bear striking similarities with our roadmap," said Mirwaiz Farooq, whose faction held two rounds of talks with New Delhi early this year. Before engaging in another round, the moderates want to visit Pakistan.
Mirwaiz Farooq's faction says it has a plan to resolve the dispute.
He said the question of involving Kashmiris in the ongoing dialogue process between India and Pakistan dominated the meeting.
"He (President Musharraf) was very clear about the involvement of the people of Kashmir in talks with India," Mirwaiz Farooq said.-AFP
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