SRINAGAR: Prof, Abdul Gani and Maulvi Mohammad Abbas Ansari, two prominent secessionist leaders of Kashmir, last week underlined the need for a consensus among different political parties in India regarding the settlement of the Kashmir problem.
Addressing a joint Press conference here, the two Jeaders said they as also the other leaders of Kashmir, preferred a dialogue to armed struggle to help find a solution to the problem, But the exereise would be meaningful only if the government of India should recognize that the basic question was the right of self determination of the people, they said.
The two leaders said that talks with the Congress government would’ be futile if the BJP and other parties opposed a solution. They suggested that a committee of members of Parliament drawn from all parties should be formed to initiate a dialogue on behalf of the government.
However, they emphasized that no effort to hammer outa solution of the vexed problem would succeed unless all the parties, including Pakistan, were involved. They recalled that neither the Tashkent and Shimla agreements between India and Pakistan nor the Sheikh Indira accord had led to 4 final solution of the problem because in each case only two of the three parties were involved.
The two leaders said that in the event of a purposeful dialogue, the large number of parties in Kashmir would not pose a problem as the All-party Huriyat Conference could choose the representatives for the talks, Alternatively, a general election in all parts of the state, including the territory occupied, Pakistan, could throw up representatives for the talks, they said, adding hastily that the elections would have to be held under UN supervision.
AZAD KASHMIR: In response to a question, they said the PoK government could not represent this part of the state at the talks, that would neither be desirable nor practicable, they said and added that all communities and regions had to be represented.
Prof, Gani said that there were Suggestions from third countries for the revival of the Dixion plan, which envisaged a division of the state. There was also a suggestion to leave Jammu and Ladakh to India, “Azad Kashmir” to Pakistan and make the Valley a Switzerland of South Asia, All these and other suggestions could be discussed at the table, he said. He said the restoration of Article 370 was not the answer to the problem, POLICY LACKING: Two leaders alleged that the government of India had no policy on Kashmir. While S.B.Chavan and Rajesh Pilot pulled indifferent directions, the Prime Minister approved to have no direction at all.
They said that after their passports were impounded in New Delhi last week while they were on way to Mecca for Haj, a suggestion had been made to then) to talk of Pilot. They, however, refused to do so as that would have been a useless exercise.
The two leaders claimed that both India and Pakistan were under immense pressure to find a solution to the Kashmir problem as the free market economy adopted by both the countries required peace in the region. The pressure was mounting from America, the European nations and also from Russia, they claimed.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 21, 1993
