Thaindian News

Srinagar, Sep 20 (IANS) Separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik Monday refused to meet the all-party delegation visiting Jammu and Kashmir but sent a memorandum listing two separate Kashmir committees in India and Pakistan as amongst the conditions for engaging in a dialogue process.
The Mirwaiz — who heads moderate wing of the separatist Hurriyat Conference — said the visit was “a facade and a joke”, while Yasin Malik, chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), said it has “no utility”.

“They should understand the heartbeats of the Kashmiri people and go back,” Malik said. “This visit has no utility if they just want to come here and go back.”

The two later sent a signed memorandum to the delegation that started by stating: “In unequivocal condemnation of the killings of our children and youth, we choose not to meet with your delegation.”

The memorandum then listed out the conditions for a dialogue process to resolve the Kashmir dispute. These included forming two separate Kashmir Committees in India and Pakistan.

They said the first step to “create a conducive environment for dialogue” was the “removal of the harsh and repressive measures that are in force here, to suppress our aspirations and our fundamental democratic rights”.

The statement stressed the “need to create a process in which all views and options - most of all Kashmiri aspirations” are considered before arriving at an acceptable solution.

“Let resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir become a common minimum programme shared by all political parties in India and in Pakistan,” the statement said.

They suggested setting up an all-party “Kashmir Committee” for this purpose.

“Let the government of India facilitate to establish and empower an official body, a Kashmir Committee, consisting of senior representatives of all major Indian political parties to develop and enter into a process of engagement with the representatives of the people of Jammu & Kashmir,” it said.

“We believe that a similar Kashmir Committee, bringing together all political forces, should also be established in Pakistan. We will advocate to the political parties in Pakistan that this be done. This will ensure that all major political forces in India and Pakistan are on board with the peace process…,” the memorandum added.

An all-party delegation led by Home Minister P. Chidambaram arrived here Monday to get a first hand impression of the situation in the Kashmir Valley where 102 civilians have died mostly in firing by security forces since June 11.