Sheikh Mushtaq
SRINAGAR, Feb 9 (1996) – The Indian government on Friday welcomed an offer by four former separatist guerrillas to enter into negotiations to end a six-year-old rebellion in troubled Kashmir.
Former leaders of four guerrilla groups who had been jailed during the revolt and later released told a news conference on Thursday that they were willing to hold direct talks with New Delhi without the participation of Pakistan.
The four said they were forming an alternative platform to the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, which bands together more than 30 separatist groups and has sought to represent the mostly Moslem Kashmir valley.
“The Hurriyat is a failure,” Bilal Lodhi, formerly of the Al-Barq separatist group, told reporters on Thursday. “Their only weapon is strike calls which have crippled the Kashmiri economy.”
An official of the Jammu and Kashmir state government said: “This is the beginning of a peace process. We hope these four leaders will lead Kashmiris to a happy end.”
More than 20,000 people have died since the separatist uprising erupted in 1990 in mostly Hindu India’s only Moslem majority state.
India accuses Pakistan, which controls one third of Kashmir, of arming and training guerrillas. Islamabad says it provides only moral and diplomatic support.
Kashmiri separatists are struggling either for an independent nation or for merger with neighbouring Islamic Pakistan.
The Hurriyat has insisted that any talks to resolve the dispute should involve its representatives along with Indian and Pakistani officials.
But Lodhi said his new group was willing to leave out Pakistan, at least initially.
“Pakistan can be included in the later stage, but India has to play a major role in searching a solution to Kashmir dispute,” he said.
Joining Lodhi at the news conference were Syed Imran Rahi, Baber Bader and Gulam Mohideen Lone, former leaders of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Moslem Janbaz Force and Moslem Mujahideen guerrilla groups.
“We are ready to talk to New Delhi,” Lodhi said. “India should accept that Kashmir is a political and historical dispute.”
Pakistan and most Kashmiri separatists want the United Nations to organise a plebiscite which would give the Kashmiris the chance to opt out of India.
But New Delhi insists all of Kashmir is an integral part of India and is only willing to discuss the issue with Pakistan provided there are no pre-conditions.
Each of the four former militants had been jailed for at least two years and was released from prison over the past 18 months.
