Mehbooba Mufti calls for unconditional dialogue with Hurriyat leaders and stakeholders

A day ahead of All Party Delegation’s visit, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti appealed to the centre to initiate unconditional dialogue with Hurriyat leaders and other stakeholders for resolving ‘Kashmir issue’ once and for all. Mehbooba’s proposal comes at a time when separatists and militants have asked people to stay away from meeting with the delegation. [caption id=“attachment_2978352” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. AFP[/caption] Chief Minister Mehbooba said on Saturday that the parliamentarian delegation should engage with all sections of the society in a credible and meaningful political process for the resolution of the issue. “The country’s political leadership must, without any further delay, reach out and engage all sections of the society including the leaders of the Hurriyat Conference in a productive dialogue process to resolve the issue and make peace a reality in Jammu and Kashmir,” Mehbooba Mufti, said. An All Parliamentary Party Delegation visiting Kashmir on Sunday to find an end to the two-month long uprising in Kashmir is likely to achieve precious little as the separatists have decided not to meet the delegation and asked others to stay away from them. Separatist Syed Ali Geelani, who is spearheading the present uprising along with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, on Friday said the Parliamentary delegation has “no mandate” for talks on Kashmir because of a Parliament resolution that Kashmir was an integral part of India. “The Indian parliamentary delegation is coming to Kashmir after passing a resolution that Kashmir an integral part of India,” Geelani said in a statement, “therefore this delegation neither has mandate nor the intention to resolve the dispute of Jammu and Kashmir.” “We suggest to all stakeholders to refrain from engaging in this meaningless exercise of meeting this delegation,” Geelani said. He has urged people no to stay away from meeting the 30-member team led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, that is scheduled to arrive in Srinagar on Sunday. The delegation of 30-member parliamentarians, includes former Home and Finance minister P Chidambaram, Communist party leader Sitaram Yechurey, AIMMA Asaduddin Owaisi, among others. This will be the second time after the 2010 uprising, that a high-powered delegation is reaching Kashmir for talks with stakeholders. But the decision to boycott by separatists has put a big question mark on the usefulness of the visit. The Kashmir Inc. also held a meeting of its various constituencies and decided to boycott the meeting. “It would be prudent if the delegation talks to the resistance leadership rather than coming here for photo-sessions to show the world that India is talking to stakeholders in Kashmir,” chairman of Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA), Muhammad Yaseen Khan. “Meeting the visiting delegation would be nothing but a foolish exercise”. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the UPA is open to holding dialogue with all stakeholders. “We have said that the option of dialogue should be open to all stakeholders. Government should open the dialogue with all stakeholders. The Centre and the state government know who the stake holders are. They have to identify the stakeholders and invite,” Azad said. Ruling PDP, however, said the delegation would be an opportunity for the separatists to make a way forward in resolving Kashmir issue. “Form last two months there had been unrest and people are on the streets I think this an opportunity for the people and the separatists to grab the opportunity and hold talks with the all party delegation,” PDP Spokesperson, Waheed ur Rehmna Para, said.