The Hindu : Kashmir committee wants Hurriyat to take part in polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 05, 2002

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Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

Kashmir committee wants Hurriyat to take part in polls

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 4. At its very first meeting today, the Kashmir committee, chaired by the former Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani, placed on record its dismay that the election schedule for Jammu and Kashmir had been announced even before the Centre could initiate a dialogue to secure broad participation in the Assembly elections by those who have remained outside this process for many years.

This has no doubt "complicated efforts'' to bring around the separatist elements in the State who have stayed away from the electoral process since these political elements who "would have agreed'' to participate in the elections simply do not have enough time now to organise their logistics for participating, the committee noted.

However, the conclusion reached today was that it is still not too late for the Centre to persuade a number of these political elements to participate in elections and "to convince them'' that the process will be free, fair and transparent. The committee appealed to the Hurriyat leaders and other political elements in Jammu and Kashmir to explore every possibility of participating in the elections and not to miss the present opportunity for finding a durable solution to the Kashmir issue.

It has suggested that as a first step the Government give an assurance that after the elections it will enter into a serious dialogue with the elected representatives of the Kashmir Assembly to discuss "all issues pertaining to the future of the State''.

The committee noted that the international community has expressed its concern over tensions in the region. And what was implied but not stated by the committee was that this international concern could present the opportunity for a solution to the problem.

The committee formally elected Mr. Jethmalani as its chairman and Ashok Bhan as convenor. The panel has been set up with the blessings of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and will do its work in addition to the efforts being made by yet another former Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, to hold a dialogue on "devolution of powers'' with a representative of the National Conference, the ruling party in the State.

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