NEW DELHI, May 3: Kashmir’s All Parties Hurriyat Conference had a frank and cordial discussion with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday, listing India’s failures in keeping its side of the bargain since the two last met in September, sources said.
They said the meeting opened up the possibility for the APHC to participate in a roundtable conference on Kashmir in Srinagar on May 25, in which the Indian prime minister hopes to rope in all the diverse shades of Kashmiri opinion.
The APHC says Indian forces are still arresting and killing innocent civilians in Kashmir despite promises by the Indian prime minister in September to stop it.
“We have agreed to work together to discuss specifics with a view to ensuring an honourable, peaceful and lasting settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” APHC chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told journalists.
“To carry this decision forward we have undertaken to evolve very shortly a mechanism to carry out a continuous dialogue,” he said.
The invitation is the outcome of back-channel efforts that witnessed the involvement of a number of influential people from Water Resources Minister Saif-ud-Din Soz to former intelligence chief A. K. Dullat.
“This invitation has nothing to do with the roundtable”, the Mirwaiz said before the meeting. “Whether or not the Hurriyat participates in the roundtable, the decision will be taken by the alliance in a general meeting.”
The Press Trust of India said Mr Singh described his talks with the APHC as ‘meeting of minds’ and urged the alliance to come out with a mechanism to address internal and external dimensions of the Kashmir issue.
The news agency said the Hurriyat, in turn, indicated that it was not averse to joining the roundtable conference convened by Mr Singh.
Mr Singh told the APHC: “We have a meeting of minds. This augurs well for the future of Jammu and Kashmir, for the people of India and the region.” PTI quoted his media advisor Sanjaya Baru as the source.
“The prime minister acknowledged that in the overall situation prevailing in Kashmir, there had to be a mechanism. The Hurriyat would find a mechanism and come back to Home Minister (Shivraj Patil) to carry forward the talks,” Mr Baru said.
Emerging from the meeting, the Mirwaiz said the talks were “an effort to ensure to move forward in Jammu and Kashmir. We had free and frank dialogue on all sensitive matters of the state and we agreed to discuss specific and lasting solution.”
The APHC would sit soon and find a mechanism. It would address the internal and external dimensions of the Kashmir issue, the Mirwaiz said.
After Wednesday’s meeting, the Mirwaiz indicated that though there were some concerns within the APHC about attending the round table, they would be discussing the matter before taking a final decision.
NEW DELHI, May 3: Kashmir’s All Parties Hurriyat Conference had a frank and cordial discussion with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday, listing India’s failures in keeping its side of the bargain since the two last met in September, sources said.
