Mehbooba Mufti invites Hurriyat for talks with All-Party Delegation in Kashmir

Mangalore Today News Network

Srinagar Sep 03, 2016:  Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has invited separatist group the Hurriyat Conference for talks as an all-party delegation heads to the state for a two-day visit. The letter however has been sent not in her capacity as the chief minister but as party president of the ruling PDP.

 

In the two-page letter, Ms Mufti has requested the Hurriyat to "take the lead and engage with the All-Party delegation of parliamentarians".

"Notwithstanding the fact that you and I have different and divergent political ideologies, I have no doubt that all of us have the best interest of the people of J&K in mind," Ms Mufti said, adding, "The PDP has always believed that the Hurriyat Conference is a stakeholder in the peace, resolution and prosperity of the state".

The letter ends with Mehbooba Mufti urging the Separatist leaders to "indicate a time and place of their convenience" to meet the delegation.

Earlier in the day, the chief minister had said the country’s political leadership must, without any further delay, reach out to and engage all sections of the society, including leaders of the Hurriyat Conference, in a productive dialogue process to resolve the unrest in Kashmir.

She was visiting the family of a person killed in firing by security forces. 70 people have died and over 10,000 have been injured as protesters have clashed with security forces in the last two months since 22-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter on July 8.

At a meeting in Delhi, several leaders pitched for a dialogue with "all stakeholders", including the Hurriyat, during the 30-member all-party team’s visit to the state starting tomorrow.

Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan of BJP ally Lok Jan Shakti Party and opposition leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja of the Left and Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen spoke in favour of inviting the Hurriyat for talks.

When told that the Hurriyat had already taken a position of no dialogue in the present circumstances, they argued that the political establishment must take a lead and extend a hand.

"If they say no after we send letters of invite, so be it, then the onus is on them. But let us at least send the letters," Mr Yechury and Mr Owaisi are reported to have told Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the meeting.

Mr Paswan, who was a member of the all-party delegation that visited Kashmir during the unrest of 2010, recalled how he had met with separatists in the Valley then and said, "Those meetings had a healing touch, we should try them again".

In a Facebook post, Mehbooba Mufti has said, "Right now Kashmir is again embroiled in a burning situation and we have hope that all sides will pick up elements of sanity and pragmatism and strike a new benchmark towards the resolution of the problem in light of the global and sub-continental realities."

She said both the separatists and the Centre will have to take a step forward.

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