Mirwaiz to PM: Accept peace offer from Imran Khan

Srinagar: Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday urged the new government at the Centre to accept Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s renewed offer of holding dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues.

He said that the Hurr-iyat Conference, the am-algam of Kashmiri separatist parties, would support the move and all other peace initiatives that may lead to an amicable resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

The Mirwaiz while speaking at Jumat-ul-Wida (the last Friday of Ramzan) congregation at Srinagar’s historic Grand Mosque said, “Imran Khan’s repeated offer of dialogue on all issues between India and Pakistan including Kashmir should be seriously considered by the new dispensation in New Delhi headed by Prime Minister Nare-ndra Modi as the way forward.”

Later while speaking to this correspondent, the Mirwaiz said that peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue could transform both India and Pakistan and usher in a new era of stability and progress in South Asia and put an end to the bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir.

Reiterating that the Hurriyat Conference would support all the peace initiatives that are aimed at a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue, he said, “We in the Hurriyat Conference have endorsed and actively supported all the initiatives that were taken in the past by the governments of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh to resolve the issues with Pakistan and here in Jammu and Kashmir.”

He said that use of force will not resolve the Kashmir issue nor can the Centre win the hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir by resorting to “suppressive measures and military might on them”. He added, “It is only through dialogue and reconciliation and by accepting ground reality on Kashmir that lasting peace and tranquillity can be restored in the state.”

The Mirwaiz earlier in his customary post-sermon political speech at the Grand Mosque also said that as the people of India overwhelmingly voted Prime Minister Mr Modi and his party back into power, “this mandate gives him the opportunity and the power to play a decisive role in the resolution of the long-pending Kashmir conflict”.

He asserted, “It is an opportune time to initiate political processes which enable and facilitate conflict resolution.” He claimed that all Kashmiris, irrespective of their organisational affiliations, are speaking in one voice about the urgent need for resolution of the conflict.