JRL To Delhi: ‘Come Clean On Talks’

SRINAGAR The Joint Resistance leadership on Tuesday asked the Government of India to clear the ambiguity in its offer of dialogue and asked it to give clarity on what it wants to talk about.

A meeting of the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a conglomerate headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, was held at Geelani’s uptown Hyderpora residence on Tuesday.

JRL while taking stock of the situation said that the statements emanating regarding talks in the course of last few days from different people at the helm of affairs in New Delhi are unclear and ambiguous.

While Mr Rajnath says there should be dialogue with both Kashmir and Pakistan but both Kashmir and Kashmiris are ours, Swaraj puts a rider and says no talks with Pakistan unless militancy is stopped, then Amit Shah gives a spin to the ceasefire that it is not for militants but people; while state DG had issued a statement that it is for militants to come back home. All this ambiguity leaves little room to consider about talks seriously with a purpose or warrant a response. The joint resistance leadership wants to put all this in perspective and once again reiterates its stand, the statement said.

JRL said these statements come a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Srinagar that the panacea to Kashmir problem according to him is development and peace is a prerequisite for that to happen. It said Modi deliberately chose to ignore the historical background of the Kashmir problem.

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Then, a few days back, Rajnath Singh said that we are ready to talk to Pakistan and Hurriyat to which Sushma Swaraj added riders and caveats, and Amit Shah put out his clarifications, not to upset his electoral applecart and calculations. Now the question is what these talks about which Singh is referring to are? What is the agenda of these talks? Is it about Modis suggestion of development? JRL does not want to score points by highlighting the discrepancies and conflicts in their statements but wants to understand what GoI is conveying through them to respond accordingly, the statement said.

Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik said that since people of J&K are at the receiving end of the lingering 70-year-old conflict, being the worst affected, we are most keen to find an end to it, hence have always advocated that being a political and human issue, it needs to be addressed likewise, not militarily as GoI has been doing.

And for a political redressal of the conflict, dialogue among stakeholders is the best process and option available. As J&K is a divided territory and half of it is in Pakistan, this dispute has three stakeholders India, Pakistan and people of this land. Meaningful talks based on a clear agenda underlined by sincerity among all the three stakeholders is an assured and peaceful way to resolve the conflict of Kashmir in all its forms and dimensions. The absence of any one stakeholder in the process will not yield to any solution. It is also important to have transparency in such a process and an assurance from all sides that promises and pledges made will be honoured, they said.

The leadership said any effort that GoI makes in this direction will find takers in Kashmir and Pakistan. Let GoI give clarity on what it wants to talk about and speak in one language, we are ready to join the process, it said.

The stakes for people of Kashmir are very high; we have invested heavily in our struggle for our right to self-determination and cannot afford to be part of an ambiguous effort that has no clarity and direction, JRL added.

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