Srinagar, Dec 5: Reiterating that Kashmir is a political issue which needs a political solution, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Sunday said that separatists should not have any problem in talking to New Delhi after having talked to its parliamentarians.
 “The separatists, who are ready to talk to parliamentarians like Ram Vilas Pawan and D Raja, must be ready to talk to New Delhi too. They should not have any problem in doing so,” Omar said, addressing people at his grandfather’s graveyard at Hazratbal.
 He said: “Some three months before, we were on this graveyard amid an entirely different situation. That time the Valley reeled under crisis which we haven’t forgotten nor shall we ever forget. That time it seemed perhaps there is only destruction in store for future. But thanks to God, we are here again in a different situation. The state has not yet returned to complete normalcy, but at least the spree of killings and bloodshed has been stopped.”
 Dressed in traditional Pheran, Omar said: “We have a political thinking, a political status and a destination. The destination may be different for Syed Ali Geelani, for Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, for Yasin Malik, but we can at least have a consensus on one thing that in search of this destination, we must not let people suffer.”
 He said his grandfather, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, ran a movement for 20 years with a goal in mind. “He remained in jail, in exile for so many years, but didn’t let his people suffer. To achieve the goal, he didn’t burn down school buses, didn’t snatch the livelihood of people,” Omar said.
 Omar said they were for politics based on truth. “This truth sometimes is bitter. Sometimes the way of our talking doesn’t seem to be good. But then, we will never do politics on something wrong and false. We say same things in power and same things when we are out of it,” he said.
 He reiterated that Jammu and Kashmir was a political issue and it was only a political solution that had to be found for it.
 “I am the Chief Minister who spoke before the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi that we are grateful to them for giving the state money that helps us in carrying out different developmental works. But I told them that it has nothing to do with the basic issue of Kashmir, which is essentially political in nature,” Omar said.
 Maintaining distance from this father’s statement that Kashmir can never be part of Pakistan, Omar said, ‘I won’t go into this debate, but I say that Jammu and Kashmir is a political issue and people will have to be approached with a political solution.”
 He said the political map of different political parties was different but all carried weight. “All these carry weight. So they (separatists) have to come on table and put forth their point of view. The Home Minister of India has said on the floor of the Parliament that Jammu and Kashmir’s accession with rest of the country has taken place in special circumstances and so a special solution has to be carved out for it. I have in the Assembly reflected upon the history of the Kashmir’s accession with India. Now when we all acknowledge that it is an issue, that gun didn’t yield a solution but compounded the problem, then the only way out is the resolution through dialogue,” he said.
 He said: “To achieve our goal, we don’t have to resort to stone pelting or taking to arms or burning down school buses. We have to create a peaceful atmosphere for a dialogue to take place to reach our destination,” he said, urging separatists to “come on table to discuss Kashmir.”
 “I presented the internal autonomy document in India and Pakistan. I went to Islamabad and told them that I belong to National Conference and fight elections for India. I told them that this is our document. I told the same thing in India. Let the separatists also do this. If they can meet the Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi and talk about Kashmir, they should not have any hindrance in talking to New Delhi,” he said.
 He said they were not waiting for big results before small ones. “In the past one month, I got 24 bunkers and 1000 CRPF men removed from Srinagar. I got the Public Safety Act (PSA) of youth revoked. We handed over at least 1200 youth, booked under stone pleting charges, to their parents. Our goal is one: to ensure peaceful atmosphere in the state,” Omar said.
 He said the NC workers should not feel scared of anything. “They must talk with courage and say that we are the party that doesn’t play with the sentiments of the people, which doesn’t fear to speak truth. We want a political solution to the Kashmir issue which has to be acceptable to the majority of people in Jammu and Kashmir. And for this, we are ready to give any sacrifice,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 5 Dec 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
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