Bhat was talking to reporters after a meeting of the Hurriyat’s executive committee in Srinagar.
The APHC announced that it had re-elected Bhat its chairman for a second term and ruled out participating in Indian-sponsored polls scheduled to be held in Jammu and Kashmir later this year.
Press Trust of India in a dispatch from Srinagar said the executive committee of the APHC extended the tenure of the 23-member group’s chairman for one more year after its seven executive members had unanimously agreed with the move.
Prof Bhat was to give up the post on July 22.
Asked whether there was a shift in the Hurriyat’s earlier stand that Pakistan should be involved in talks, Bhat said: “We have not withdrawn from our past stand. We still believe that unless India, Pakistan and people of Kashmir join their heads we are not going to resolve the issue.
“If the Indians accept the principle that we talk to the parties involved in the dispute, including Pakistan, we have no problem in talking to India first,” Bhat said. “I am sure they will rise to the occasion and accept our proposal.”
Bhat said the constitutional position of the APHC is that the dispute on Kashmir be settled through a dialogue. “We are prepared to talk to Indians, Pakistanis and all sort of people, everywhere at different levels for the settlement of the issue.”
Referring to his re-election, Bhat said: “The decision on extension was taken at the last executive committee meeting but was kept in abeyance in view of certain compulsions.”
He said the extension was made without amendment to the Hurriyat’s constitution, which states that election to the chairman’s post would be held every two years, as the council members had agreed to it unanimously.
Bhat said the APHC would not take part in the polls. However, the APHC has shown willingness to talk to the Kashmir committee, headed by Ram Jethmalani, a former union law minister. The final decision, he added, would be taken at a general council meeting on Monday.
“As and when they (Kashmir committee members) will visit Kashmir we will talk to them and discuss Kashmir with them,” Bhat said. “The committee is non-governmental. If it enjoys the support of the government, we will have to know about it.”
He said the issue of boycotting the polls would also be discussed at Monday’s meeting. “We have said we will not be participating, and that is as good as boycotting,” he said. “If you want that we should go out (on the streets), we will have to see whether (the) government allows that or not. And we will have to see if the ban on public meeting(s) as far as we people are concerned is lifted,” he said.
“This is also in reference to the leadership that is languishing in the jails,” Bhat said. The meeting was held in the absence of four of the seven executive members of the conglomerate. Three executive members — Yaseen Malik, Syed Ali Geelani and Sheikh Abdul Aziz — are in jail. The fourth one, Umar Farooq, is abroad on honeymoon.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell had obliquely urged New Delhi recently to release the incarcerated leaders. An Indian official later denied there were any political prisoners in Kashmir, saying those who were in jail were there for one serious crime or another.
AFP adds: Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani had on Friday authorized Jethmalani to invite the Kashmiri leaders for talks on “relevant issues”. Bhat said the APHC had not yet been approached by Jethmalani and that the Hurriyat wanted to ensure the legality of his committee before taking any decisions.