Shun confrontation, start dialogue: Mirwaiz tells India-Pak

Srinagar, Mar 19: Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Monday urged India and Pakistan to shun the confrontational approach instead start a sustained dialogue to resolve Kashmir dispute.
A spokesperson of the amalgam said a meeting of Hurriyat faction’s executive and general council was held under the chairmanship of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at the amalgam’s headquarters at Rajbagh.
The representatives of all the constituents of the amalgam participated in the meeting that discussed situation on ground with regard to the ongoing movement, he said.
“The participants of the meeting expressed serious concern over the growing escalation between India and Pakistan on the borders and stressed upon the two nations to shun the confrontational approach and instead start a sustained dialogue to resolve the root cause of the tension which is the Kashmir dispute,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued here.
The participant, he said, expressed great distress at the killing of five members of a family in the cross border shelling in Mendhar area of Jammu region.
“Military approach adopted by India and Pakistan is going to yield nothing as neither can prove their superiority or settle the dispute militarily as both are nuclear powers,” he said.
“All that is being achieved by repeated ceasefire violations is death and destruction and great suffering for the people of the region since last 30 years. This low intensity war among them can anytime take an ugly turn and bring the region on the brink of disaster.”
The meeting urged the leadership of both, India and Pakistan to mitigate the sufferings of people of Kashmir and put an end to this senseless violence by showing maturity and pragmatism and take steps to resolve the Kashmir issue as per the wishes and aspirations of people of Kashmir by pursuing a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all the stakeholders on board so that peace prevails in the South Asia, he said.
The meeting, he said, expressed serious concern over the efforts that India has entered into the race of buying weaponry on a large scale stating that enhancing the defence capabilities won’t resolve the issue but instead complicate and worsen the already complex dispute of Kashmir which has consumed thousands of people over the past 70 years.
“The meeting stated that while India and Pakistan are trying to outdo each other in the arms race the fact remains that both countries have lakhs of people living below the poverty line in squalor. Basic facilities of healthcare and education elude them. There is so much that they need to do to lift the standard of living of their huge masses that it is so senseless that instead resources are being expended on military upkeep,” he said.