India,Pakistan must not allow peace process to be derailed: Mirwaiz Umer Farooq

SRINAGAR: Moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, a separatist amalgam, today welcomed efforts of India and Pakistan to "cooperate" in the aftermath of the Pathankot terror attack which was aimed at derailing the peace process.

Expressing deep concern over the recent attack in Pathankot, Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said in a statement that it was aimed at only derailing the process initiated at the highest level in the two countries.

The Hurriyat Conference said "we appreciate the efforts by the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers to cooperate to ensure the creation of a positive atmosphere for dialogue. They must resolve to carry forward and work together to try and rid the region of conflict and violence."

On the Pathankot terror strike, the statement said this has been happening in the past as well. "Whenever there is a serious effort made by India and Pakistan to resolve issues, incidents like this have been taking place with the aim to derail the dialogue process.

"The elements which seek to vitiate the atmosphere and derail the dialogue process are working against the interests of the people of South Asia. Keeping in mind the nuclear dimension, such incidents can jeopardise the very future of the region, and have the potential to trigger a serious crisis between India and Pakistan," the statement said.

The Mirwaiz said despite these challenges, "we urge the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan to carry forward with the peace efforts and dialogue process in a visionary way. It is important that the dialogue process is not allowed to get derailed."

He said resumption of dialogue process between India and Pakistan is an "encouraging" step especially that it has been led at the highest political levels and that the two Prime Ministers have personally committed themselves towards the pursuit of peace.

"We appreciate their courage and we urge them to take the peace process forward in a bold way and to focus on taking bold steps to resolve issues, especially the main issue of Kashmir," he said.

The Mirwaiz said India and Pakistan should actively involve all the stakeholders so that the dialogue process has maximum support from every side.

"It is important that, to succeed, the process needs broad support from the political opposition and general public in both countries. The people of Jammu and Kashmir who are the primary stakeholder have to be involved in any successful dialogue process aimed at resolving the Kashmir issue," he added.