Indian offer not serious: JKLF chief

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 8. Mr. Amanullah Khan, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, has said that the Indian Government's offer of talks to all peace-loving people in Kashmir falls far short of being a ``serious and result-bearing gesture'' as it lacks the basic ingredients.

In a statement here, he said all that was needed to bring permanent peace to the region was to solve the Kashmir issue, the basic cause of the situation in the area since 1947.

Mr. Khan complained that the Indian offer made no mention of solving the core issue or doing justice to Kashmiris.

``It just talked of talks to establish peace which meant peace without justice and for that matter peace at the cost of justice, a thing no self-respecting Kashmiri would agree to''.

If the Indian Government was really serious about bringing peace to the region, it must take concrete steps to solve the Kashmir problem. The best way of doing it without doing injustice to any of the parties involved in the issue, he said, was to implement the ``JKLF formula''.

To be implemented in five phases, it envisages the re- unification of the divided Kashmir with status of an independent nation for an initial period of 15 years with ``a democratic, federal and secular system of government having friendly relations with both India and Pakistan''.

It proposes an agreement with Kashmir's immediate neighbours not to violate its frontiers nor interfere in its internal affairs and that Kashmir would undertake not to let its soil be used against any country.

It also seeks a U.N.-supervised referendum in which the people of Kashmir will determine whether Kashmir should perpetuate its independence or become part of India or Pakistan, and that the popular verdict will be accepted by all concerned as the final settlement.

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