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| March 16, 2006 | Thursday | Safar 15, 1427 |
Kashmiri leader for inclusion of all groups in talks
ISLAMABAD, March 15: Kashmiri communist leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami has said that the ongoing India-Pakistan peace process would bear fruit only if “all Kashmiri groups, including the militants” are included in the dialogue.
“Kashmir is bleeding and crying for an urgent solution, which is possible only if smaller as well as bigger Kashmiri voices, including militant groups, are included in the ongoing confidence-building process,” he said.
He made a passionate call for resolving the simmering Kashmir issue which has been providing an opportunity to the war mongers to siphon off major chunk of the two countries’ resources that could have been spent on poverty alleviation and wellbeing of the people.
Mr Tarigami made the statement to Dawn in an interview taken on the sidelines of the recent Pugwash conference which brought major Kashmiri groups from both sides of the divide together.
He urged the left wing parties and democratic forces to put pressure on the rulers of India and Pakistan to make the peace process meaningful.
“If followed in a well-structured manner these CBMs could be fruitful”, he said.
Yusuf Tarigami, who is a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, recently survived an armed attack on his life in which Jammu and Kashmir education minister Ghulam Nabi Lone was killed. Mr Tarigami lost his young nephew in a similar attack last month.
About the recent US-India civil nuclear deal, he said his party opposed “arms race in all forms”, and that the dependence of the two South Asian nuclear powers on outsiders for energy and arms was “the result of the failed policies of their successive governments”.
“I must say, this arms race is dangerous for the future of India and Pakistan in the long run. We want peace through political means and not through the barrel of the gun. Arms are never a solution to any problem, only dialogue is,” he said.
“Our party has a clear policy on defence spendings. We want drastic cut in such waste of resources at a time when a big chunk of the Indian population are deprived of basic social services and are living below poverty line. Same is the case with Pakistan,” he noted.
The rampant poverty in the two countries was due to the failure of their governments to change the mindset that sees a threat in the strength of the other, he said.
“Believe me a strong Pakistan is in the interest of India and a powerful India is in the interest of Pakistan. Let’s kick out this extreme ideas from the minds of our masses by stopping demonizing each other”, Mr Tarigami, who is also state secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPI-M) noted.
The decades-long crisis and conflicts had made the two neighbours dependent on outsiders including some major powers, which wanted to dictate the policies of both the countries. In many cases, he said, India and Pakistan had acted and signed different agreements and deals with outsiders at the cost of their sovereignty, which was wrong and must stop now.
“I believe in the potential of India and Pakistan. Why should they live as constant threats to each other and give opportunities to the outsiders to dictate their foreign policies,” Mr Tarigami noted.
Kashmir was the most dangerous issue between the two countries.
“Our graveyards have been expanding during the last 16 years. The wails and laments of the widows and half widows — a new class of women whose husbands are missing — orphans and mothers fill the atmosphere with pathos and melancholy.
“A reign of terror and counter-terror prevails, leaving the entire civil population helpless and clueless,” he observed.
There was no ready-made solution for Kashmir. The problem could be resolved through well-structured dialogues and by including all the stakeholders in the process.
Extremisms on both the sides would have to be removed and trade and other ties further strengthened to pave the ways for durable peace.
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