NEW DELHI, Oct 12: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Saturday dared Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to test the truth of the New Delhi’s claims about the successful elections in Kashmir with a plebiscite, saying it could become a good way for India to keep the disputed region forever thereafter.

The APHC, however, does not rigidly apply the plebiscite demand as the only way to resolve the blood-drenched dispute saying trilateral talks involving India and Pakistan appeared the more realistic way ahead.

And it was this latter approach, involving talks and negotiations, that appeared to have made some headway in Washington as reports came in that Indian Ambassador to the United States Lalti Mansingh had supported US role in the imbroglio as a facilitator, though not as a mediator.

“A facilitator is somebody who is a friend, who suggests things and does not dictate. To that extent we welcome the role of the United States,” Mansingh told a conference of retired diplomatic and consular officers on Friday.

If the United States’ role as a “facilitator” leads to enduring peace in the region, “nothing could be better for us”, he said.

Mansingh was responding to the speakers at the conference who wondered whether US has a role as a mediator, facilitator or some other capacity to defuse tensions and solve the Kashmir issue, emphasizing that US interests require friendship with both India and Pakistan, NDTV said quoting a PTI dispatch from Washington.

Reiterating that India and US were partners in the fight against terrorism, he said, the task remained unfinished as long as terrorism continued to reside across India’s western border, apparently referring to Pakistan.

“The Taliban may have been defeated in Afghanistan, but our task of defeating terrorism remains far from finished. Much of the infrastructure of terrorism remains intact. Its ideological soul is alive and strong. The epicentre continues to reside across India’s western border,” Mansingh said.

APHC chairman Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat said in Srinagar: “Vajpayee has said that Kashmiri voters have voted for democracy and for the unity of India. It is not so. Those who voted, did so because of coercion and anger against the excesses of the state, the Centre and the security forces.”

Bhat said: “If India believes that it was a vote for India, then why don’t they organize a plebiscite and keep Kashmir for good. If they are confident that Kashmiris would vote for India and if the referendum favours them, we would be the first one to congratulate them,” he added.

“If there are problems in the way of a plebiscite, then the only way out is a purposeful and positive dialogue between India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. If they take one step, we will take ten,” he said.

He also talked about giving up the ‘traditionally rigid positions’ by all the parties involved. “Let us rise above yesterday and capture tomorrow. Let us talk with openness and imagination.”

The NDTV quoted Bhat as supporting India’s officially- encouraged Kashmir Committee which seeks to help bring as many sides to the dispute as are willing to seek peace talks to the table.