Mirwaiz rejects Centre's initiatives, says solve Kashmir issue first

Moderate Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said on Monday that the eight-point initiative announced by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was administrative in nature and in no way helpful in finding a solution for the Kashmir problem.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani had earlier rejected the initiative as "an eyewash" while the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik, is yet to respond to the Home minister's initiatives.

In a statement, Mirwaiz said the "announcements made reflect a lack of willingness to understand and address the basic issue, which is disappointing". The statement said the announcements made in the eight-point initiative "show India's reluctance to address the political aspirations of the people of J&K" despite the all-party delegation's visit to the Valley and "assessing the seriousness of the situation for themselves".

Mirwaiz said measures announced "do not convey much promise" as the initiatives were "administrative in nature which seem to be put in place to provide relief to the beleaguered state government and deliberately shift focus from the actual issue to provide compensation and concessions to people".

The statement said that Hurriyat Conference had "time and again made it clear that it is only the resolution of the Kashmir issue and not any political or economic concessions that can bring lasting peace and stability in Kashmir as well as in the entire region".

A meeting of the executive council scheduled for Monday could not take place due to the house arrest of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the strict curfew restrictions, the statement said.

Mirwaiz said All Party Hurriyat Conference had given certain suggestions to the central government for the "initiation of a process of meaningful engagement between the three concerned parties – the people of Kashmir, India and Pakistan" to find a solution to the Kashmir issue. He said these suggestions were important in order to provide relief to the people on the ground and build an atmosphere of trust, free of coercion and intimidation. "But to our dismay, there has been no progress on that account," he said.

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