Kashmiri separatist leaders on Thursday claimed that they have been assured by Pakistan’s envoy to India that his country will not budge an inch from its long-stated policy on Kashmir and that Islamabad’s “moral, political and diplomatic support” to the “freedom struggle” of the people of the state will continue.
After a two-hour long meeting with Abdul Basit, in New Delhi, separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that the former gave him assurance that his country “will not show any flexibility in its principled stand with regard to the Kashmir dispute”.
Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric Mirwaiz Umar Far-ooq also met Mr Basit at the head of a delegation of his faction of the Hurriyat Co-nference separately. “Mr Basit assured the APHC leadership that there is no change in Pakistan’s nat-ional policy on Kashmir. He also said Pakistan’s leadership firmly believes that the resolution of the Kas-hmir issue is imperative towards creating a peaceful, tension free and prosperous subcontinent and hence it is united on the issue and wants Kashmir should be resolved as per the wishes and aspirations of its people,” a spokesman of the amalgam said.
Mr Geelani, the Mirwaiz and a battery of other Kashmiri separatist leaders and other politicians, lawyers, journalists, social activists and members of civil society flew to Delhi earlier this week to attend the Pakistan Day celebrations at the high commission at the invitation of Mr Basit.
A Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference spokesman here said on Thursday that the octogenarian separatist leader told Mr Basit that India, by creating a false impression of terrorism, actually wants to build pressure on Pakistan so that it surrenders its “principled stand” on Kashmir and agrees to put the issue on the backburner. He advised the Nawaz Sharif government “not to beg for talks with India but instead send it a clear message that the real and core issue between the two nations is the Kashmir dispute and, until and unless this issue is solved according to the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people, peace, development and the prosperity in this region is a distant dream”. Mr Geelani’s meeting with Mr Basit was also attended by deputy high commissioner Abdullah Nizamani and about eight second-rung leaders of the Hurriyat Conference (G) who were accompanying the separatist leader.
“We want to tell the world that the freedom struggle of Kashmir has nothing to do with terrorism and we strongly condemn terrorism in any form,” Mr Geelani was quoted as saying at the meet. He alleged that it was India “which is holding Jammu and Kashmir just with the help of its military might and this country is persecuting and oppressing its citizens for the last 69 years.”
He said, “Not only Pakistan but it is the moral responsibility of the whole world to help the Kashmiris in their struggle against the tyranny and make room for a free and fair referendum process in the state on the pattern of Scotland.”
India has made numerous promises with the people of Jammu and Kashmir which include providing them a free chance to decide their future and that their decision will be respected, he said adding that the prevailing political uncertainty and disturbance in the State is due to Delhi’s “rigid and stubborn approach”. Accusing India of backtracking from its promises and not cooperating in the implementation of the relevant UN resolutions, he said, “We’re not against the dialogue process but India does not maintain a good track record in this regard this country uses the talks as a time killing process and to hoodwink the world community”.
While greeting the government, army and the people of Pakistan on their country’s national day, Mr. Geelani said, “Pakistan is the only visible supporter of the Kashmiri nation and the way this nation is supporting our right to self determination, we are extremely thankful to them for that”.
The Mriwaiz said that he and others who met Mr. Basit separately discussed with him various issues related to Kashmir and also the recent meeting of the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan and the efforts underway for the restoration of dialogue process between the two South Asian neighbours. “Extending gratitude to Pakistan for supporting the just struggle of Kashmiri people and their principled stand on Kashmir, the Hurriyat leadership said the resumption of parleys between the two countries would pave the way for the resolution of all pending issues including Kashmir between the two neighbours,” a statement issued here said.
The Mirwaiz-led delegation stressing that the need of the hour was to make the dialogue process a continuous and sustained affair rather making it a stopgap arrangement. It reiterated that Kashmir was the core issue between the two countries due to which 1.25 crore people of the State are living a painful life and which had robbed the entire South Asia of real peace, stability and prosperity for the past seven decades.
“Laying emphasis that for a durable solution on Kashmir, in any type of dialogue between the two countries, there is a need of involving Kashmiri leadership”, the Pakistani envoy was told. The Mirwaiz and others assured him that the conglomerate has always stood for cordial ties between the two countries. However, the delegation also said that putting Kashmir issue on the backburner had never yielded any positive results in the past and would prove to be disastrous in future too.
