SRINAGAR, July 23: India will soon set dates for fresh talks with moderate Kashmiri leaders on the disputed region’s future, Junior Home Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said on Saturday.
“We’ll soon fix dates for talks with the Hurriyat Conference,” he said, referring to the All Parties Hurriyat Conference which is split between moderates and hardliners.
“The government is ready to hold talks. Our doors are open for anybody and everybody who wants peace and normalcy to return to Kashmir,” Mr Jaiswal told a news conference here.
The move to renew dialogue follows the return of moderate Kashmiri leaders from a groundbreaking trip to Pakistan in June where they held their first-ever talks with Pakistani leaders over the region’s future.
Moderate leaders held two rounds of talks last year with India’s previous government led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party but had sought permission to travel to Pakistan before resuming discussions.
After their return from Pakistan, the APHC leaders said they were ready to re-open the stalled dialogue with the Congress government which took power in May last year. But they said it was up to New Delhi to decide the timing.
Mr Jaiswal, however, said the moderates should convey their willingness to hold talks through ‘proper channels’ rather than public statements. He did not elaborate on the nature of the proper channels.
The hardliners want tripartite talks involving India, Pakistan and the ‘true representatives’ of Kashmiris or implementation of decades-old UN Security Council resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir on its future. Mr Jaiswal said despite a recent spurt in violence, the 19-month-old peace process between India and Pakistan was advancing.
“The rise in militant attacks is the manifestation of their desperation,” he said. “They don’t want peace to return but despite that the peace process is moving forward,” he added.
GUNBATTLE: Meanwhile, three Indian soldiers and a militant were killed on Saturday in a fierce gunbattle in Indian-held Kashmir, the army said.
The fighting erupted in the Ajas village near the northern town of Bandipora when Indian troops surrounded a house allegedly containing freedom fighters.
“As troops closed in, militants who were hiding opened fire and that fire was returned,” army spokesman Vijay Batra told AFP.
In the gunbattle, three soldiers and one militant were killed, he said.—AFP