The Hindu : Hurriyat's yes for talks, no to elections

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 06, 2002

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Hurriyat's yes for talks, no to elections

New Delhi Aug. 5. The Hurriyat Conference today said it had ``no problems'' in holding talks with the Kashmir Committee headed by the former Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani, even as it ruled out participation in the forthcoming Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

``My good wishes are with them and I have no problems in holding talks with them as they are renowened intellectuals of the country and the initiative is purely in their individual capacity and the Government has nothing to do with it,'' the Hurriyat Conference chairman, Abdul Gani Bhat, told PTI here.

The Kashmir Committee was formed yesterday with Mr. Jethmalani as its chairman and the Supreme Court advocate, Ashok Bhan, as its convenor.

The other members of the committee are the former Law Minister, Shanti Bushan, the Times of India Editor, Dileep Padgaonkar, the freelance journalist, Jawid Laiq, the retired IFS officer, V.K. Grover, the eminent lawyer, Fali Nariman, and the Asian Age Editor, M.J. Akbar.

However, Mr. Nariman and Mr. Akbar could not attend the committee's meeting yesterday.

While Mr. Jethmalani told reporters yesterday that the Hurriyat had said it did not have enough time for arranging the logistics, Mr. Bhat rejected any proposal to take part in the polls, saying ``this is an irrelevant exercise. We have made it clear that we will not participate in the polls and the issue no longer exists for us.''

The Hurriyat chairman said he was aware of the formation of the committee and added, ``we will co-operate with them in finding an everlasting solution to the problem.''

``I think sensible people of India, Pakistan and Kashmir should join together and move together for resolving the issue which has been eating into the vitals of both the countries,'' Bhat said.

He said both the countries should realise that they had to shun the beaten tracks of the past and work for a better tomorrow by engaging in a fruitful dialogue.

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