ISLAMABAD, March 30: All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Thursday agreed that there was a need for reunification of Kashmiri leadership to help reach consensus on a formula for the settlement of Kashmir issue.
During a meeting with the parliamentary committee on Kashmir, the Mirwaiz called upon the Pakistani leadership to demonstrate unanimity on whatever mechanism they felt was better for settlement of the Kashmir issue.
He asked the parliamentary committee to get the APHC leadership along when it came to hold talks with India.
Accepting the proposal, Kashmir committee chairman Hamid Nasir Chattha announced that an in camera session would be held with the Kashmiri leadership drawn from both sides of the Line of Control to work out a unanimous strategy for the solution of the dispute.
Federal ministers Shahbaz Hussain and Muhammad Naseer Khan; ministers of state Malik Amin Aslam and Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli and MNAs Sardar Talib Nakai, Liaquat Baloch, Imtiaz Safdar Warriach, Sherry Rehman, Prof Mushtaq Victor and Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz attended the meeting.
The Mirwaiz appreciated the flexibility that Pakistan had showed on Kashmir and said its commitment to resolve the issue had increased pressure on India.
The committee expressed displeasure over ‘division’ among Kashmiri leaders saying it had sent a negative signal to the world. It called for a serious effort to forge unity among them.
The APHC leader expressed dismay over President George Bush’s failure to express his mind for lowering tension in the region during his visit to the subcontinent earlier this month.
He said the APHC had boycotted the recent roundtable conference on Kashmir in New Delhi in protest against Indian failure to fulfil its commitment with regard to demilitarisation of Kashmir, improvement of human rights situation and release of political prisoners.
The parliamentarians assured the APHC leader that Pakistan’s position on Kashmir remained unchanged in accordance with the UN resolution.
The Mirwaiz, however, said: “We want to go ahead of UN resolutions.”
Ms Rehman of the People’s Party Parliamentarians said the process to settle the issue must involve all political parties as it could not be resolved by General Pervez Musharraf at his own.
She assured the APHC leader on behalf of her party that it was with Kashmiris in its demands for demilitarisation, enforcement of human rights laws, etc.
ROADMAP: Talking to reporters later, the Mirwaiz expressed the hope that triangular talks on Kashmir would lead to a roadmap for settlement of the dispute in the current year.
“The year 2006 is crucial for Kashmir,” he said. “Though the problem cannot be solved overnight, at least there could be an agreement on features of a possible solution. I see a ray of hope.”
He said India had started realizing that the Kashmir issue could not be sidelined any longer.
The Mirwaiz said the Hurriyat would put forth concrete suggestions for settlement of the Kashmir dispute in next round of talks with Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
