‘Those who talk to Sharma will undermine our internationally recognized struggle’
Srinagar, Oct 31 : Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik Tuesdaytermed the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma as an interlocutor to Kashmir a futile exercise saying “any Kashmiri who will part of this futile exercise will only undermine our internationally acknowledged legitimate struggle.”The leaders Tuesday met at the residence of Geelani at Hyderpora. In a statement issued to KNS, the JRL said, “Any Kashmiri to be part of the New Delhi recent initiative futile exercise will only undermine our internationally acknowledged legitimate and just struggle nourished by the “blood of our martyrs and great sacrifices and hardships rendered daily by the masses”.
The leadership said the pro-freedom leadership has always advocated and supported sincere and productive dialogue as a means of conflict resolution of Jammu and Kashmir, what it inherently entails from all participants to dialogue is the basic acknowledgment that there is a dispute that has to be resolved. But Govt of India continuously refuses to accept this basic premise and the reality on the ground.
Referring to PM Narendra Modi’s outright dismissal of former Home minister P Chidambaram’s suggestion of restoration of autonomy for J&K, the JRL said that if Govt of India even rejects the demand of its co political party for restoration of autonomy guaranteed by its own constitution, calling it a betrayal with soldiers and hence unacceptable, how will such a dispensation in New Delhi address or engage with the Kashmiri people’s political will and aspiration of self-determination for which people have been relentlessly struggling and sacrificing for the past 70 years.
The JRL said that this clearly indicates that the hyped upon appointment of Dineshwar Sharma by Govt of India as its interlocutor for J&K is nothing more than a tactic to buy time adopted under international pressures and regional compulsions and due to the abysmal failure of the state policy of military repression upon the people of Kashmir.
“Sharma’s recent comment that he will come to Kashmir to dissuade the youth from Islam and pursuing their legitimate political aspirations so that Kashmir does not become Syria is misleading. To compare the internationally recognized 70-year-old political and humanitarian issue of Kashmir to that of the sectarian war and power struggle in Syria is deception and propaganda as there is no correlation between the two situations,” reads the statement.
The JRL reiterated that use of “unlimited force on common people will not deter people or leadership to give up pursuing their legitimate demand for resolution of Kashmir issue as per our will and aspirations. (KNS)