UPA committed to solving Kashmir: Sonia

NEW DELHI: The Kashmir peace process received a fillip on Wednesday when UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, ignoring the advise of sections of Congressmen, met moderate leaders of the Hurriyat Conference and assured them that the Manmohan Singh government was committed to finding a solution to the Kashmir issue.
Reservations were expressed on whether Gandhi should meet the leaders ��� Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Bilal Lone ��� who had utilised the permission to visit PoK to go to Islamabad and meet President Pervez Musharraf, disregarding PM Manmohan Singh's invitation.
However, after the Hurriyat team met the Prime Minister on Monday to resume the dialogue, the party leadership was advised by those engaged in the peace process that the meeting, sought by the Hurriyat moderates, should be utilised to underscore the government's earnestness.
The Hurriyat leaders on their part stressed that they wanted to end the "gun culture" and that violence should have no place in J&K.
They briefed Gandhi on the meeting they had with PM, home minister Shivraj Patil and others and prior to that, their meeting with Musharraf and separatists based in PoK.
Expressing satisfaction at the confidence-building measures currently being undertaken by New Delhi and Islamabad, they expressed the hope that the PM's meeting with Musharraf and the Mirwaiz's own meeting with the Pakistan president in New York later this month would facilitate better understanding.