All parties should jointly call for India-Pak talks: Hurriyat leader

SRINAGAR: Former Hurriyat Conference chairman Prof Abdul Gani Bhat on Friday suggested that all political parties in Jammu and Kashmir including BJP and Congress should jointly draft a resolution demanding resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan, with a friendly country of both nuclear powers facilitating and intervening if needed.

This is for the first time, any Hurriyat leader has recognized, pro-India political parties of the J&K as players in resolution of Kashmir issue.Till now, Hurriyat leaders used to refer to pro-India politicians as “managers” of New Delhi whose mandate was limited to provide, roads, electricity and water.

“I will want all the leaders of recognised parties of J&K, BJP, NC, Congress, PDP, Jama’at-e-Islami, to break walls of compromise and interests and join heads.

They should consider a draft resolution to be conjointly and collectively passed, impressing on the leadership of India and Pakistan that the stalled dialogue process is resumed forthwith in the interest of peace stability and the throbbing hearts of the people of J&K,” Bhat said at the launch of his maiden book, ‘Beyond Me’.

Bhat, a vociferous votary of sustained engagement with the central government, remained a key player in Srinagar-Delhi dialogue process during Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh regimes.

The resolution of Kashmir issue, Bhat said, is pivotal for peaceful and stable future of South Asia, especially given the presence of US and China in the region.

According to Bhat, India-Pakistan dialogue often becomes a casualty of accidents and incidents of rage or misadventures, for which a mechanism has to be evolved, where a third friendly country can help or intervene in times of crisis to maintain good relationship between the two countries.

Bhat is an executive member of Hurriyat led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and considers himself a “background strategist politician” and not a leader with mass appeal.