SRINAGAR: Signalling a positive shift in their stand, three separatist leaders on Tuesday said they were ready for talks but not before New Delhi clears ‘ambiguity’ regarding the dialogue to bring peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
Unlike in the past, they have not attached any condition to initiate dialogue this time. At the same time, the separatist leaderss asserted that J&K being a divided territory and half of it lying with Pakistan, the Kashmir dispute has three stakeholders — India, Pakistan and the people of J&K.
“If any stakeholder is absent from the dialogue process, it won’t yield any solution,” the separatist leaders said in a joint statement. “It is important to have transparency in such a process, and an assurance from all sides that promises and pledges made will be honoured.”
Separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik discussed Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s talks offer to the Hurriyat Conference. The trio also deliberated on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s statement ruling out dialogue with Pakistan.
After a four-hour meeting, the three leaders issued the joint statement saying remarks by Indian leaders were ‘unclear’ and ‘ambiguous’. “While Rajnath says Delhi is ready to hold dialogue with Hurriyat and Pakistan, Sushma puts a rider on talks with Pakistan and BJP president Amit Shah said ceasefire is not for militants. All this ambiguity leaves little room to consider the talk about talks seriously.”
The leaders said all these statements came just a few days after PM Narendra Modi stated that the “panacea to Kashmir problem is development, and peace is a prerequisite for that to happen. This again has put the onus of bringing peace on the people, while absolving the Government of India (GoI) from its role and responsibility in the matter deliberately”.
“Any effort that the GoI makes in this direction will find takers in Kashmir and Pakistan. Let the GoI give clarity on what it wants to talk about and speak in one language, we are ready to join the process.”
The separatist leaders asserted that the stakes for the people of Kashmir were very high. We don’t want to score points by highlighting discrepancies and conflicts in the statements but want to understand what the GoI is conveying through them to respond accordingly, they said.
“Since J&K people are at the receiving end of 70 year-old Kashmir conflict, we are most keen to find an end to it. And we have always advocated that Kashmir issue needs to be addressed through dialogue and not militarily. And for a political solution of the conflict, dialogue among stakeholders is the best option available,” the trio said.
J&K BJP opposes dialogue
Earlier in the day, J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina opposed dialogue with separatists and Pakistan. “If somebody wants to talk within the Constitution, we are ready for talks with them. However, there can be no talks with those, who don’t believe in the Constitution,” he told TNIE.
When told that ‘Agenda of Alliance’ framed by BJP and PDP for running the coalition government in the State also mentions dialogue with separatists, Raina, said, “Agenda of Alliance is not outside the Indian Constitution. Talks can only be held within the ambit of Constitution.”
“India has never opposed dialogue with Pakistan and, in fact, took initiatives every time for the talks. However, Pakistan always scuttled the peace processes —right from Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Modi’s initiative.”
Raina said security and intelligence agencies would evaluate the Ramzan ceasefire before the next course of action follows in J&K.