Chairman Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendera Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan to make serious efforts to resolve Kashmir issue for permanent peace in the region.
He said that Hurriyat was ready to act as a bridge betweenthe two countries, as envisioned by his late father Mirwaiz Moulana MuhammadFarooq who first suggested the idea of tripartite talks involving India,Pakistan and Kashmiris, at a public rally in Srinagar.
Addressing the 56th foundation day of the Awami ActionCommittee (AAC), Mirwaiz said that AAC has a history of sacrifices and hugecontribution towards the ongoing struggle in Kashmir.
“It is extremely painful that each day we shoulder thecoffins of our young and old and take them to graves. In the past one weekalone, 25 people have lost their lives including militants, civilians andsoldiers to the conflict. We want an end to these killings,” Mirwaiz said inhis presidential address to the AAC workers at the organizations’ headquartersat Mirwaiz Manzil, Rajouri Kadal.
“My fervent appeal to the PMs of both countries is how longhave to we shoulder the coffins of the young and old? The mandate people ofPakistan and India gave to PMs of the two nations calls for an end to thebloodshed in Kashmir and for that there is a need for a sustained dialogue withthe active participation of the people of Kashmir,” he said.
Mirwaiz, who is the AAC patron, said that the organizationwas founded to give voice to Kashmiris and their genuine demand for a peacefulresolution of Kashmir issue.
“It was India and Pakistan that took the issue to the UNwhen Jammu and Kashmir got divided in 1947,” Mirwaiz said.
“It were they who signed the UN resolutions, and in the last70 years both countries have gone to wars over it and signed various agreementsat Tashkent, Shimla, Agra, Lahore and started the composite dialogue. But it isthe people of Kashmir who have suffered the most and are at the receiving end,”Mirwaiz said.
Mirwaiz said that it was the founder of AAC, Shaheed eMillat Mirwaiz Farooq who first talked of an alternative means of a peacefuland democratic resolution in the form of dialogue among the stakeholders.
“A great votary of peace progress and friendship among thepeople of both the nations, he wanted Kashmir to be a bridge of friendshipbetween the two countries, not a source of continuous belligerence which onlybenefits the arms suppliers of the world at the expense of resources thatshould go for upliftment of millions of poor in both the countries,” Mirwaizsaid.
He said that AAC was not formed for furthering interests orto gain power.
“The party’s purpose is to peacefully press for resolutionof the Kashmir issue keeping in view the sentiments and aspirations of itspeople,” said Mirwaiz.
“It believes in the democratic principle that people ofentire J&K as it existed in 1947 have a right to seek a resolution of theissue that arose when the subcontinent was divided and subsequently J&Kalso got divided.”
Mirwaiz said an “artificial line” runs through this landdividing friends and families. “People of Kashmir want an end to uncertainty ofpast many decades. They want a closure. We are not against any nation or itspeople. We are people of peace and goodwill and all we say is resolve the issuepeacefully through dialogue,” he said.