Maulana Abbas Met Jethmalani’s Kashmir Committee

Srinagar, Jun 04, 2011: Kashmir Committee headed by noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani today met separatist leader & Chief Patron of jammu & Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen (JKIM) Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, here and held detailed discussions on the prevailing situation in Kashmir valley.
Jehtmalani and his team visited Maulana at his residence in Nawakadal area of the city.
Maulana told the Committee that Kashmir issue cannot be resolved through bilateral talks between New Delhi and Srinagar and involvement of Pakistan in the dialogue process is inevitable.
“Kashmir issue can only be settled by trilateral talks because bilateral talks could not prove result oriented up till now. Kashmiris would not accept Kashmir resolution against their desires”, Maulana told the visitors.
Kashmir Committee was constituted during the Prime Ministership of A B Vajpayee in 2002 to open a channel of dialogue mainly with senior separatist leaders. The committee had several visits to Kashmir until suspension of its operations. Apart from Jethmalani, other members of the panel are senior counsel Shanti Bhushan, academic and editor Madhu Keshwar and journalist M J Akbar. The panel members who are on five-day tour of the state will try to work out a solution by meeting every stakeholder in the political sphere of Kashmir and cross sections of Kashmiri society.
In his interaction with the visting Kashmir Committee, JKIM chief said that activating the Kashmir Committee was a ‘good step’ for Indian civil society groups to make headway on the Kashmir issue. He said that Indians as well as Indian parliamentarians have a great role in resolution of Kashmir. Flanked by other party members including Masroor Ansari & General secretary Ghulam Hussain, JKIM also called for restoration of fundamental rights of the people and annulling of draconian laws prevalent in the state.
Maulana reiterated that Kashmir was a political issue and not communal or law and order problem.
Maulana told the panel that the future of India, Pakistan and Kashmiris was linked to the Kashmir issue, and stability could not be expected in the region until an acceptable solution was found.
“63 years have lapsed but Kashmir dispute remains unresolved. During this period, besides several military standoffs, two full fledged Indo-Pak wars and two localised conflicts took place on account of Kashmir issue. Today Kashmir has turned into a dangerous nuclear flashpoint. Until Kashmir issue was not resolved in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people, peace will continue to elude the south Asia”, Maulana said.

Ittihadul Muslimeen Yet to decide on re-joining Hurriyat Conference

Srinagar, June 2: Miffed at the “double standards” of Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Jammu & Kashmir Ittihdul Muslimeen (JKIM) today said it will decide on rejoining the amalgam only if the Working Committee of the party authorizes it.
“We will decide on rejoining the Hurriyat only after a meeting of the Central Working Committee of the party,” a spokesman of the JKIM, which was suspended last month for meeting Centre’s interlocutors against the amalgam decision, said.
The Executive Committee of the Hurriyat Conference revoked the suspension of JKIM during a meeting yesterday.
“The revocation of the suspension order is a welcome step. The decision has not only cleared the misgivings but also vindicated our stand,” the JKIM spokesman said. “Since the issue has been sent to the CWC of the party, it is the only authority to decide the future course of action,” he said adding an “extraordinary meeting” would be called shortly.
Accusing the Hurriyat chairman of adopting “double standards”, the spokesman questioned why no action is taken against those constituents who are involved in parallel activities and issuing such statements which even violate the Hurriyat constitution.
“It is surprising that the Hurriyat chairman observes silence when parallel activities are being carried out by some constituents despite a leader speaking about division of the state which is not only unrealistic and unacceptable but also against the Hurriyat constitution,” the spokesman said.
“When our leader (Ansari) demonstrated traditional Kashmiri gesture to the guests in accordance with the Islamic teachings, he is shown the exit while no action was initiated against others,” he said.
Criticizing the separatist leaderships for meeting one delegation and leaving another, the spokesman said, “There are several committees active on Kashmir. After Dileep Padgoankar led interlocutors, another committee headed by Ram Jethmalani has reached Kashmir.
“Although both committees are similar and designed to recommend measures after holding talks, they cannot take a decision. But if Hurriyat stand is that the dialogue process can prove result-oriented and purposeful only when initiated at a higher level, then what is the meaning of ignoring one and meeting the other,” the spokesman said.
He said members of such committees are “government employees” and there is no difference whether they are appointed by government or not.
The spokesman said Pakistan’s involvement is imperative for a final solution to the Kashmir issue.
“We strongly believe in unity and our stand on Kashmir issue is clear that it cannot be resolved through bilateral talks. Pakistan is a historic party and sidelining it cannot help in reaching a final settlement,” he said.