Jammu And Kasmir

[acharya]

Saturday, March 11, 2006
Kashmiri leaders differ on solution

By Mohammad Imran

ISLAMABAD: Kashmiri leaders appeared to disagree on the solution to the Kashmir issue as the three-day Pugwash Conference began on Friday.

Media persons were not allowed to attend the closed-door sessions of the conference, which has been organised by a Washington-based think tank and is also being attended by Kashmiri leaders and intellectuals from Indian Held Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Amanullah Khan told Daily Times that National Conference President Omar Abdullah opposed self-rule and demilitarisation of Kashmir, saying that such a course would not grant autonomy to the Kashmiris. However, the People’s Democratic Party representative Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain supported the proposals as the “best solution to the dispute”, saying that the “ground realities should not be ignored”.

“Omer Abdullah said that his party was trying to the get maximum autonomy from New Delhi, though not in an ideal situation,” Khan told Daily Times after the meeting.

Farooq Kathwari of the Kashmir Study Group said that the US would also be willing to play a role to resolve the issue. He also briefed the participants about the Dixon Plan, Chenab Formula and another proposed religion-based solutions to the Kashmir issue.

Amanullah Khan said that he had suggested that his compatriots in Jammu and Kashmir unite on a one-point agenda. “Let the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir determine the future of the state,” he said. “Indians and Pakistanis must realise that the rhetoric of Kashmir being their ‘integral part’ and ‘jugular vein’ have fallen into the dustbin of history.

“I appeal to distinguished Indian and Pakistani participants of the conference to support my suggestion and call upon their respective people, media, intelligentsia and the governments to support this suggestion, which is in the best interests of the entire subcontinent,” he said.