SRINAGAR, Apr 8:
Moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq today expressed hope that those who will be elected to Parliament after the Lok Sabha polls will “act in greater unison to move forward towards resolving the Kashmir issue”.
“There is already a broad political consensus in J&K and in Pakistan that the Kashmir issue must be amicably resolved… We hope that after the next elections, those who are elected to power and those who are in Opposition will all act in greater unison to move forward towards resolving Kashmir,” the Mirwaiz said.
He appealed to the people of the country to hold their elected representatives accountable for resolving the Kashmir issue, and said Hurriyat Conference was ready to contribute positively towards achieving this goal.
“Whoever you vote for and whoever ends up forming the next Government or sitting in the Opposition, you must hold them accountable on the Kashmir issue. You must convince your elected leaders that the time has come to develop a peace process on Kashmir…,” the Mirwaiz said in “an open letter to the people of India”.
“There must be a serious, result-oriented and time-bound process of dialogue between the leadership of India, Pakistan and J&K. Let this process start sooner rather than later. Over an intensive period of one year, let all of the parties engage actively with each other.
“Let each party seriously consider whether they can find partners to end this conflict once and for all. We must all try our best and exhaust the possibilities to seek a peaceful solution. Perhaps together we will be able to find some way to take a historic step forward towards a real peace process,” he said.
The Hurriyat leader said a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue would unleash immense prosperity and economic benefits for the entire South Asia region, otherwise the conflict is not only a threat to millions of Kashmiris but also a serious hazard for the entire one billion plus population of India and for the population of the entire region.
“Delaying a political solution has made the situation more insecure and unstable and the conflict has only become more dangerous with time,” the Mirwaiz said.
“Kashmir is a human issue and it requires a political solution…,” he said.
“At various moments, Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh gave us some reason to believe that an honourable and lasting solution could be achieved… Unfortunately, these visions could not materialise and the attempts did not sustain,” he said.
The Mirwaiz said despite “good intentions” of the Prime Ministers, the peace initiatives “failed to yield visible results and no progress was achieved towards addressing the underlying realities of the Kashmir issue”. (PTI)
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