‘Indo-Pak parleys without people of JK on board are futile’
Srinagar, Aug 22: Upping the ante over New Delhi’s move to “sideline” people of Jammu and Kashmir in the dialogue process with Pakistan, Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Friday demanded erasing of the Line of Control (LoC) to allow people living on both sides to decide their future.
“Kashmir is not a border dispute between India and Pakistan or an issue of leadership; it is not an administrative matter or about economic packages. It is a political issue concerning 1.3 crore people of Jammu and Kashmir living on either side of the LoC,” Mirwaiz said, addressing Friday congregation at the historic Jamia Masjid here.
“No dialogue between India and Pakistan will be successful until Kashmiris are involved as primary party to the dispute,” he maintained.
He demanded “erasing” of the LoC in the state, saying it has led to a “humanitarian crisis.”
“This bloody LoC has divided hundreds of families. It is high time to erase it to allow people of all religious to meet each other and decide their future,” he said, as people responded with pro-freedom slogans.
Mirwaiz made the statement in the backdrop of cancelling of the foreign secretary level talks by New Delhi on August 25 after the Pakistan High Commissioner went ahead with his meeting with separatist leaders.
The Hurriyat (M) Chairman hit out at the Government of India for “sidelining” the people of Kashmir. He also rejected Delhi’s stand that India and Pakistan were the only two parties to the Kashmir issue. External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin had recently said “after 1972 and the signing of the Simla Agreement by the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, there are only two stakeholders on the issue of Jammu & Kashmir – the Union of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
“History stands testimony to the fact that declarations and agreements in Tashkent, Simla, Lahore or Agra have failed to bear any results as these did not include aspirations of Kashmiris. It has been a principled stand of the Hurriyat that Kashmir dispute must be resolved either by implementing the UN resolutions or through meaningful talks involving all the three stakeholders—India, Pakistan and people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Elaborating, he said, “India must read the writing on the wall.”
“People of Kashmir have been rendering unflinching sacrifices to attain their inalienable right to self-determination and not for roads, electricity and administration,” he said.
Mirwaiz said a process has been started to divide Kashmiris on “regional and communal lines in view of upcoming Assembly elections in the state.”
“Attempts are being made to divide Kashmiris on communal and sectarian lines to weaken their ongoing movement for right to self-determination. Kashmir is neither a religious issue nor a regional one. Kashmiris will leave no stone unturned to foil these evil designs. Our struggle will continue till Kashmir issue is resolved according to UN resolutions and aspirations of Kashmiris,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mirwaiz termed August 25, 1989 as “a black day in the history of Kashmir when police and security agencies entered the historic Jamia Masjid and violated the sanctity of this religious place.”
“The aim of the attack was to silence Late Mirwaiz from advocating the cause of people and to weaken the centrality of the Jamia Masjid,” he said, paying rich tributes to ‘Shaheed-e-Millat’ Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq on his 25th martyrdom anniversary, according to Islamic calendar.