Thaindian News

Srinagar, June 2 (IANS) A solution to the Jammu and Kashmir problem can be achieved only through peace and dialogue between India and Pakistan, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani said here Thursday after meeting hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani.

Four members of the Kashmir Committee (KC), led by Jethmalani, reached here on a five-day visit Thursday.

Besides Jethmalani, former Indian foreign secretary V.K. Grover, women’s rights activist Madhu Kishwar, and Waheed-ur-Rehman, a local member of the KC, drove to the uptown Hyderpora residence of Geelani where they remained closeted with him for nearly two hours.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Geelani said: “We want permanent peace between India and Pakistan.”

“We are ready to meet people from India who do not have any government affiliation. The Indian media, including the electronic media, do not inform the people of India properly about the situation in Kashmir,” he said.

“We are putting forth our demands peacefully. Today, we have reiterated our demands before the KC. We are not communal, but our demand is based on the universally accepted right of self-determination.”

“We demand this right not only for the Muslims here, but for all the people who are permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir state,” he said.

Geelani also spoke of the curbs imposed on his movements by the authorities here.

Responding to Geelani’s statement, Jethmalani said: “I have known Geelani Sahib’s views since years. Today, I heard him in a very cordial atmosphere. I told him it was my duty to apprise the people and the politicians about the problems faced by the separatist leaders.”

“I am happy he has asserted the need for peace. Solution will have to come through dialogue. I do not claim we have found the solution or that the solution will be found tomorrow or the day after. But, the hospitality shown by Geelani today proves it is not difficult to find a permanent solution to the problem.”

Jethmalani added that in April this year, he had hosted 150 lawyers of Pakistan’s Supreme Court in Jaipur.

“After four days of deliberations, a resolution was adopted at the Jaipur conference. The resolution demanded that India and Pakistan must sign a no-war pact. All terrorists are outlaws. All problems between the two countries must be resolved through dialogue, arbitration or through reference to the International Court of Justice,” he said.

The KC members are also scheduled to meet Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, the chairman of the moderate Hurriyat group during its current visit.

Formed in 2002 to reach out to the local separatist leaders, the KC has been recently revived by Jethmalani.

Muhammad Yasin Malik, chairman of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has already said he would not meet the KC members.

In a statement here, Malik said: “We have decided not to meet the Kashmir Committee during its tour of the valley as we understand it has time and again played a detrimental role to the interests of Kashmiris.”

“The Kashmir Committee played a crucial role in the disintegration of the united Hurriyat Conference,” he said.

Separatist conglomerate the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is at present split into two groups, the moderate group headed by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and the hardline group headed by Syed Ali Geelani.