Noted jurist and head of the Kashmir Committee,Ram Jethmalani held meetings on Thursday with separatist leaders here including Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and said a solution to the Kashmir issue is not far away. "I am not claiming that a solution will be reached today or tomorrow but after the respect,love and gesture shown by Geelani,I am sure a solution is not far away and not so difficult to achieve," Jethmalani told reporters after meeting the Hurriyat hawk at his Hyderpora residence. He also said that a solution to the vexed issue can be achieved only through peaceful dialogue. "A solution to Kashmir has to be found through peaceful dialogue,without using terrorism,violence and crime," the BJP MP,who began his five-day tour of the state on Thursday as the head of the panel,said. Jethmalani said the committee will try to work out a solution by meeting every stakeholder in the political sphere of Kashmir and cross sections of Kashmiri society. "Today I heard Geelani in a conducive and lovely atmosphere. I told him that it is my responsibility to make the government and people of the country aware of the complaints which have become an obstacle in finding a solution to the Kashmir issue," he said,adding,when the hurdles are cleared,a solution will emerge automatically. The Jethmalani-led committee was formed during the Prime Ministership of A B Vajpayee in 2002 to open a channel of dialogue mainly with senior separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from Jethmalani,other members of the panel are senior counsel Shanti Bhushan,academic and editor Madhu Keshwar and journalist M J Akbar. Jethmalani said the heartening thing is that the people of Kashmir are more desirious of peace than people in any other part of the country. Referring to his recent visit to Pakistan,Jethmalani said the mood in Pakistan currently is of friendship and settlement. "Whatever you might hear in the press or whatever the politicians keep saying,there is genuine change of atmosphere and that change of atmosphere will reflect itself in Jammu and Kashmir and I am quite convinced that a peaceful solution shall be found and much sooner than people imagine," he said. Earlier,Geelani said "we do not want a war between India and Pakistan" but India is involved in an arms race. "India tops the list of countries importing the war weapons only to keep Kashmir through the barrel of the gun," Geelani said. He alleged even though "India claims to be the biggest democracy in the world but there is no democracy in Kashmir". "Kashmir issue should be resolved through peaceful means and the residents of either side of the dividing line should be given an opportunity to decide their future," he said. The Committee later met the chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other leaders of the amalgam. Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) headed by Mohammad Yasin Malik has already refused to meet the Kashmir Committee,accusing it of playing a role in dividing the separatist camp in the past.
