End ambiguity, we are ready for talks: Joint Hurriyat to GoI

Srinagar, May 29: Joint Hurriyat Leadership of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik on Tuesday said that they were ready to join a dialogue on Kashmir, but demanded that New Delhi should end ambiguity first.
The trio held a detailed meeting at Hyderpora and deliberated on the current prevailing political situation in J&K.
“The statements emanating regarding “talks” in the course of last few days from different people at the helm of affairs in New Delhi are unclear and ambiguous,” the Joint Hurriyat said.
“While Rajnath says there should be dialogue with both Kashmir and Pakistan but both “Kashmir and Kashmiri is ours”, (Sushma) Swaraj puts a rider and says no talks with Pakistan unless “terror is stopped”. Then Amit Shah gives a spin to the ceasefire that it’s not for militants but people even though the state police chief has issued a statement that it is for militants to come back home. All this ambiguity leaves little room to consider the talk about dialogue seriously,” the leadership said.
Join Hurriyat Leadership said it wanted to put all this in perspective and once again reiterate its stand.
“These statements come a few days after Mr Modi said in Srinagar that the panacea to the Kashmir problem according to him is ‘development’ and ‘peace’ is a prerequisite for that to happen, putting the onus of bringing peace on people while absolving government of India of all role and responsibility in the matter,” the three separatists said.
They added that New Delhi was “deliberately choosing to ignore” the historical background of the Kashmir problem, its internal and external dimensions, the reason for the presence of lakhs of his troops here, the daily aggression and the highly volatile situation on ground and near LoC in the conflict ridden region.
“It was like Modi was playing a cruel joke on the people,” the trio said.
“Then a few days back Rajnath Singh said that ‘we are ready to talk to Pakistan and Hurriyat to which Sushma Swaraj added riders and caveats and Amit shah put out his clarifications, not to upset his electoral applecart and calculations,” they said.
“Now the question is what these ‘talks’ are about to which Rajnath is referring to? What is the agenda of these talks? Is it about Modi’s suggestion of development?” they asked.
The Joint leadership said it does not want to score points by highlighting the discrepancies and conflicts in their statements but wants to understand what Government of India is conveying through them to respond accordingly.
“Since people of J&K are at the receiving end of the lingering 70 year old conflict, being the worst affected we are most keen to find an end to it. And hence have always advocated that being a political and human issue it needs to be addressed likewise, not militarily as GOI has been doing. And for a political redressal of the conflict dialogue among stakeholders is the best process and option available,” they said.
The trio added that “as J&K is a divided territory and half of it is in Pakistan, this dispute has three stakeholders: India Pakistan and people of this land”.
“Meaningful talks based on a clear agenda underlined by sincerity among all the three stakeholders is an assured and peaceful way to resolve the conflict of Kashmir in all its forms and dimensions. Absence of any one stake holder in the process will not yield any solution. It is also important to have transparency in such a process and an assurance from all sides that promises and pledges made will be honoured. Talks that are so held keeping in view the concerns and needs of stakeholders especially the most afflicted party, to the satisfaction of all will surely be successful and result oriented.”
“Any effort that GOI makes in this direction will find takers in Kashmir and Pakistan. Let GOI give clarity on what it wants to talk about and speak in one Language we are ready to join the process. The stakes for people of Kashmir are very high. We have invested heavily in our struggle for our Right to self-determination and cannot afford to be part of an ambiguous effort that has no clarity and direction,” they said.