SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Saturday announced that the Hurriyat Conference was ready for dialogue. Malik also praised separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq for speaking against the abuse of drugs. “Hurriyat Conference is ready for talks. They want to talk. It is an encouraging sign,” the Governor said at a function in Srinagar which was attended by Union ministers Prakash Javedkar and Jitendra Singh.
It is a positive change as the Hurriyat leaders had not opened doors when Paswan had gone to meet, he added, referring to an incident in 2016, when the separatists refused to meet an all-party delegation during the unrest over the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani, “The militant recruitment has stopped and stone pelting incidents after Friday prayers have almost stopped. I feel good that the temperature (referring to the situation) has come down significantly since the day I came here,” he said.
Referring to civilian deaths, Governor said the administration is pained whenever a youth is killed. “However, when a bullet is fired, it is not reciprocated by a garland but by bullets,” he added. On youth taking up guns, he said, the young men are being misled. “They have two heavens. Kashmir is a heaven on earth and being Muslims if they do good deeds, they will go to heaven in the world hereafter,” Malik said.