Wants Delhi to take separatists on board
SYED ALI SAFVI
SRINAGAR, Dec 4: Concluding its three-day Kashmir visit, the delegation of parliamentarians and civil society members today asked New Delhi to respond to separatists’ proposals on confidence building measures and restart the stalled composite dialogue with Pakistan.
Endorsing formation of a Parliamentary committee, as suggested by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat Conference, member parliament and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chairman, Ram Vilas Paswan, who headed the 11-member delegation, accused Indian government of ignoring the recommendations put forth by the all-party delegation.
“Instead of implementing the recommendations, they (New Delhi) appointing appointed interlocutors, which however failed to change the ground situation in Kashmir,” Paswan said in a press conference at Broadway hotel here before leaving back for New Delhi.
Paswan said that the all-party delegation had recommended appointment of a team of interlocutors comprising politicians.
“Rejecting the recommendation, the government appointed non-political interlocutors, who have been unable to address the issue convincingly,” he said.
Expressing concern over unabated human rights violations in the valley, Paswan said that there was a need to look into the draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA) besides working on withdrawal of troops.
“If demilitarization in one go is not possible, then the security forces can be withdrawn from Kashmir in a phased manner,” he said.
The former union minister emphasized the need for engaging separatist and Pakistan in talks.
“There is need to engage separatists in talks and resume composite dialogue with Pakistan,” he said.
Calling for an enquiry into the recent killings, Paswan said that the victims who were killed during five-month long unrest in the valley were not militants or Pakistanis.
“Had 112 youth been killed in any other part f India, errant forces would have certainly been brought to book,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate that no action has yet been taken against the culprits in Kashmir.”
The LJP president said that there was also an “urgent need” to look into the issue of release of political detenues and other youths, who were languishing behind bars in various jails across the state.
Paswan said that that the delegation members had unanimously decided to build a political consensus in New Delhi on formation of a parliamentary committee to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir.
“We will propose this issue in the Parliament,” he said.
“We are not interlocutors, but we will work to generate a common consensus on Kashmir across the country to pave the way for its final settlement,” he said.
Paswan invited separatist leaders to participate in various seminars and debates held across India.
“That will help in making people of the country aware of the true picture of Kashmir,” he said.
The delegation left fro New Delhi at 2:30 PM.
Pertinently, Paswan had Saturday said that New Delhi had “completely failed” to implement its eight-point package in Kashmir.
Urging New Delhi to respond to Geelani’s five-point proposal, Paswanhad said: “Government may have reservations to accept Kashmir as international dispute (Geelani’s first proposal), but there should not have been any problem in addressing other four proposals put forth by Geelani sahib.”
Meanwhile, the delegation comprising parliamentarians, journalists, filmakers today also called on senior separatist leader and National Front chairman, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, at his residence.
During his interaction with the delegation, Khan emphasized the need for working on the various proposals floated by Mirwiaz-led Hurriyat Conference to pave the way for dialogue process.
Pertinently, the delegation had on Sunday met chairmen Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Geelani, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chairman, Shabir Ahmad Shah, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti, People’s Conference chairman, Bilal Lone, and families of youth killed in police and CRPF action during the five-month long unrest.
The delegation had arrived here on December 3 on a ‘fact finding mission’. Shortly after landing in Kashmir, they drove straight to the house of Tufail Ahmad Matoo, 12, who was killed by a tear smoke shell fired by police on June 11 at Rajouri Kadal here and interacted with the Mattoo family. Later in the day, they also met JKLF chairman, Yasin Malik.
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