JAMMU:The acting chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference and a senior leader of Jamar-e-Islami, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, is opposed to the third option of independence for Jammu and Kashmir saying this cannot be a durable solution to the 47year-old imbroglio.”

The bearded and the bespectacled secessionist leader is of the opinion that the grant of the right of self determination to the people of the trouble state is the only way to resolve the impasse.” Mr Geclani said under the UN resoTution on Kashmir there was no provision for the third option and hence the talk of experimenting with the option of independence for the state would not resolve the basic problem.

In reply to a question he said the demand for “azadi” did not mean “independence” but “liberation from India.” The government of India was “committed to implement the UN resolution and in this context he cited statement and speeches of several Indian leaders, especially those from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in support of his contention that at no time between 1949 and 1957 India had opposed the implementation of the UN resolution Asked whether Pakistan was responsible for delaying the implementation of the UN resolution by not withdrawing its troops from the occupied Kashmir, as was provided in the resolution. Geelani said the onus of holding a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir was on India. And when India “started cooling its heels on the matier, Pakistan could hardly afford to withdraw its troops from Azad Kashmir” which would have meant annexation of the territory by India.” he said.

Asked whether the Shimla Agreement or 1972 had made the UN resolution on Kashmir redundant and obsolete Goelani replied in the negative saying that the agreement was signed by the Governments of India and Pakistan and “we as Kashmiris have nothing to do with this accord.”

Geeloni supported the idea of holding tripartite talks among the Governments of India, Pakistan and the representatives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “I cannot say anything about the outcome of these tripartite talks. If such talks can result in a durable solution, I shall have no reservation,” he said.

In reply to another question he said a proposal for granting autonomy to Kashmir under the framework of the Indian Constitution and similar

Article extracted from this publication >> January 27, 1995