Moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today welcomed calls for resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue. However, his hardline counterpart Syed Ali Geelani insisted that talks should focus on the Kashmir issue.
In his statements on Monday and Tuesday, Mirwaiz welcomed the remarks of the United Nations Secretary-General Ban-Ki moon in which the latter had stressed that dialogue was the only way forward to improve the Indo-Pak ties.
The dialogue process between India and Pakistan has remained shaky. A high-level meeting of the National Security Advisers of the two countries was cancelled in August this year after Islamabad insisted on meeting separatist leaders and New Delhi objected to it.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif met on Monday on the sidelines of the UN climate summit, which India described as a ‘brief exchange of courtesies’ and Pakistan termed as a ‘good’ meeting.
Mirwaiz, who is the chairman of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, has been an advocate of talks. During a meeting of his party Awami Action Committee today, participants backed dialogue as the “only way of resolving the differences between the two nuclear neighbours”.
“Hostile and bitter relations between India and Pakistan are a result of the long-pending Kashmir dispute. True peace and stability cannot be achieved in the South Asian region until the dispute is resolved in accordance with the wishes of the people,” Mirwaiz’s group said in the statement.
Geelani, who is the chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, however, has appeared less welcoming of the unconditional dialogue process between the two countries.
In a statement, Geelani cautioned Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over indicating resumption of dialogue with India “without pre-conditions”.
“Until this issue is addressed as a core issue and the dispute is solved according to the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people, the dialogues between the two neighbours will prove a futile action like in the past,” Geelani said.
Geelani described the “unresolved Kashmir dispute” as the basic issue between the two neighbours and warned that “another round of unconditional dialogue” would yield nothing. “It will be another addition to the customary dialogue process,” the hardline separatist leader said.
Mirwaiz welcomes call for dialogue, Geelani sticks to Kashmir issue
