Srinagar, July 16: Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have expressed dismay over the collapse of Indo-Pak Foreign Minister level talks held in Islamabad on Thursday.
Accusing New Delhi of adopting dallying tactics to stall resolution of the Kashmir issue under the garb of dialogue, Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that outcome of the talks is disappointing for Kashmiris and “we don’t know whether Kashmir was on the agenda or not.”
“The dallying tactics has been benchmark of Indian policy on dialogue with pro-freedom leadership and Pakistan. Kashmir is core issue and there would be no headway in talks until dialogue with seriousness and sincerity is initiated with pro-freedom leadership and Pakistan for resolution of the dispute .The talks should specifically focus on Kashmir,” Mirwaiz told Greater Kashmir.
He said that the basic reason for the deadlock in talks was the effort to focus attention on secondary issues and putting Kashmir on the backburner.
He accused India of acting militarily on Kashmir. “India wants to handle the Kashmir issue through its military might rather than politically.”
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti said that the way the talks ended is not a good sign for Kashmiris.
“The hardening of stances by both India and Pakistan would have direct impact on Kashmir and people of Kashmir would have to bear the brunt of this debacle. The situation is already tense in Kashmir after Omar Abdullah called Army and the deadlock in talks at this juncture is not good,” she said, adding that this is a “disappointment for people here.”
National Conference leader and Law and Parliamentary affairs Minister, Ali Muhammad Sagar said that “we should not go into the outcome of the FM level talks” and added that the dialogue between both the countries is in the interest of Kashmiris.
“They have their viewpoints on respective issues and would only settle their problems through the path of dialogue. We welcome the statement of Pakistan that there is an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front vice-chairman Bashir Ahmed Bhat said that these talks seemed nothing more than wastage of time and prolonging the dispute further.
“Talks would not yield results until involvement of principal party ie, Kashmiris. We would welcome talks for resolution of the dispute, but at present this is nothing more than an exercise to buy time .Our youth are being killed, innocents are detained and people are caged by imposing curfews and there is no relief to common Kashmiris from talks,” he said.
Criticizing government of India for adopting rigid stance during the parleys, JKLF(R) leader Wajhat Quershi welcomed the stance of Pakistan that “Jammu and Kashmir was core issue and the recent developments there could not be neglected.”
Rejecting the stand of the Government of India, that Kashmir is their internal matter, he said that Kashmir is an internationally accepted dispute.
Jammu and Kashmir Muslim League accused India of adopting stubborn approach during parleys and urged justice loving people of world to build pressure on India for giving Kashmiris the right to self-determination.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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