The Hindu : Situation conducive for dialogue: Mufti

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 11, 2003

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Situation conducive for dialogue: Mufti

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI FEB. 10. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, today came out strongly in favour of talks with all sections of people in the trouble-torn State and urged the Centre to move ahead now from a "position of strength".

"(The Centre) should take advantage of the current atmosphere, which is conducive for a dialogue from a position of strength," the Mufti said at a `meet-the-press' organised by the Press Club of India here.

The results of the recent Assembly elections in the State, he claimed, had given the people a taste of the "freest and fairest" elections in the last five decades. The Government was making all efforts to remove the sense of alienation and create a situation for peace and dialogue so that people could participate.

Refusing to set any parameters for the Centre to start the process of dialogue, Mr. Sayeed said that at a time when the Vajpayee Government was holding peace talks with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah), he wondered why it "should shy away from talks" with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Centre could begin by holding discussions with the elected representatives of the Assembly and expand to "talk to every one". Once the Government engaged itself in a dialogue, a way could be found out. "Whatever consensus emerges should be for a lasting solution...you cannot go with a predetermined position," he said to a question on his party's stand vis-a-vis the National Conference which advocates restoration of pre-1952 autonomy and the All-Party Hurriyat Conference which prefers tripartite agreement involving India, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir.

Asked whether the dip in India-Pakistan relations would cast a shadow on restoring peace, he said instead of referring to Pakistan, efforts should be made to improve conditions in the State.

Stating that he had no magic wand to change the situation while going ahead on his promise to apply a "healing touch", Mr. Sayeed underlined the importance of tackling the issue since there were vested interests both within and outside the country to keep militancy going.

In his first formal interaction with the press here, the Mufti showered praise on the Vajpayee Government's initiatives with regard to Pakistan. He said a PTV panellist, during a discussion, had charged Islamabad with spurning the hand of friendship extended by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The Government, he said, was committed to working for the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the State. It had identified two districts, Mantalai and Kheer Bhavani, where they would be located. His Government believed in carrying everybody together, and accommodating the National Conference nominee as Speaker, was an indication of the spirit in which it worked.

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