Separatists undecided on Kashmir roundtable

PTI / May 20, 2006, 18:39 IST

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Syed Ali Shah Geelani said he had rejected the invitation as the two-day roundtable to be chaired by PM would be 'a futile exercise'.

Separatists undecided on Kashmir roundtable

SRINAGAR: While the hardline Hurriyat faction on Saturday rejected an invitation to the second roundtable conference on Kashmir and other separatist groups were undecided about attending the meet, mainstream parties termed it an opportunity to find a solution to the vexed issue.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who leads the hardline Hurriyat group, said he had rejected the invitation as the two-day roundtable to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be "a futile exercise".
The only peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue, he said, lay in implementing the UN resolutions.
He said his faction of the Hurriyat would not enter into a dialogue with the Centre unless it accepted Kashmir as a disputed territory, withdrew troops, revoked "black laws" and released all detenues.

Though a majority of the constituents of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq are also opposed to participating in the conference, the amalgam has convened a meeting on May 22 to take a decision in the matter.
"The final decision to take part or keep away from the roundtable will be taken at the meeting on Monday," said a spokesman of the faction.
However, he said the government should invite only the separatists and not the mainstream parties to such a conference. "What is the point of talking to those who are in power in the state?" he asked.

Terming the roundtable conference a "farce", former Hurriyat chairman Moulvi Abbas Ansari said, "Peace cannot be ensured in Jammu and Kashmir unless troops are withdrawn."
Opposing the separatist grouping's participation in the conference, the National Front led by Nayeem Ahmed Khan, a constituent of the Hurriyat, said the amalgam's concept of a triangular dialogue with India and Pakistan was based on sound logic.
Senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah, who has been invited for the conference, said a meeting of the executive body of his Democratic Freedom Party on May 21-22 would take a final decision.
The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) too has received an invitation but is yet to take a decision on it, a spokesman of the group said.
Terming the roundtable a "golden opportunity", the state Congress president Peerzada Mohammed Syed asked separatists to avail of the opportunity and put forth their views on Kashmir at the conference.
The opposition National Conference's president Omar Abdullah said the conference provides the "best opportunity" for separatists to state their stand on Kashmir.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the former chief minister and chief patron of the People's Democratic Party, hailed the prime minister's resolve to work out a solution to the Kashmir issue by involving all parties concerned.
He said proposals and suggestions for resolving the issue coming from any quarter including the separatists needed to be considered with sincerity.

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