SRINAGAR, July 27: The chief of the All-Parties Hurriyet Conference on Sunday called on Indian troops and Kashmiri freedom fighters to declare a truce to set the stage for talks between India and Pakistan.

Maulvi Abbas Ansari told AFP that India and Pakistan should sit down as soon as possible to start resolving their dispute over Kashmir.

“It would be good if we have a ceasefire in Kashmir by both Indian troops and Kashmiri Mujahidin,” said Ansari, head of the APHC.

“A bilateral ceasefire at this point of time will help in creating a conducive atmosphere for talks between India and Pakistan.”

“The Hurriyat wants India and Pakistan to start talking at the earliest so that the logjam on Kashmir is broken,” said Ansari.

But violence has surged in Kashmir in the past week with the Indian forces claiming to have killed more than a dozen alleged freedom fighters since Friday crossing the de facto border with Pakistan.

India has demanded Pakistan seal off the frontier before any talks are held.

Maulvi Ansari called for confidence-building measures, including the release by India of Kashmiri prisoners, an end to human rights abuses and the reopening of a road between Srinagar and Rawalpindi.

“A stage will come when India and Pakistan will have to ask for our opinion, and we have to be prepared for that,” Ansari said.

“We (Kashmiris) being the major party to the dispute ought to be involved in the talks process. Nobody can ignore us because we have been the sufferers over the decades now,” he said.

Talks imperative: All Parties Hurriyet Conference Convener Yousaf Naseem has said that the Indian government will ultimately have to start negotiations with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute as without it the South Asian region would remain in danger.

Pakistan wanted to resolve the longstanding and core issue of Kashmir with India by holding dialogue in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiri people, he said in a PTV programme.

By sidelining the Kashmir issue, no talks could be fruitful, he said and added that there should be no delay as more than 50 years had been lost due to Indian intransigence. He said Pakistan had taken a number of confidence building measures and now it was up to India to show sincerity.—AFP/APP