The Hindu : Mirwaiz asks U.S. to facilitate Indo-Pak. dialogue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 15, 2002

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Mirwaiz asks U.S. to facilitate Indo-Pak. dialogue

By Our Staff Reporter

Jammu Sept. 14. The former chairman of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has asked the United States to make efforts for facilitating a purposeful dialogue between India and Pakistan on all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir.

In his address at a Kashmir contact meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference at New York, the Mirwaiz said "we place the trust in the statesmanship of the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, that he will not countenance any attempt to ignore the wishes of the people of Kashmir and bypass the expression of those wishes." Asking the Americans to be focussed in their efforts he said, "the effort will be far more constructive if its focus would be on putting the Kashmir dispute on the road to a settlement rather than merely obtaining a reprieve in situation of tension.''

The conglomerate was open to the "genuine gesture of goodwill," Mirwaiz Farooq said adding that "we are prepared to cooperate in a credible effort to achieve a just and durable settlement of the dispute concerning our life and future... " That was the reason why the Hurriyat had agreed to start a peace process with a Kashmir Committee headed by the former Union Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani.

Urging New Delhi to be flexible in its dealings on Jammu and Kashmir, the Mirwaiz said "any resolve will be of little avail if the Government continues to follow a course which is as purblind as it is fraught with dangerous consequences, not least for India's own welfare and influence."

He expressed the Kashmiris' "gratitude" to the OIC for the "moral support" extended to them. "The people of Kashmir feel fortified by the sympathy spontaneously expressed by the governments of OIC and the fraternal peoples that they represent."

Mirwaiz Farooq also extended a formal invitation to the Secretary-General of OIC to visit Kashmir. It is also learnt that he had a 40-minute meeting with the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, who is in New York. He also met its Foreign Minister, Inamul Haq. The meeting lasted three hours and was focussed on the Kashmir issue.

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