Rediff India Abroad
 Rediff India Abroad Home  |  All the sections

Search:



The Web

India Abroad




Newsletters
Sign up today!

Article Tools
Email this article
Top emailed links
Print this article
Contact the editors
Discuss this article


Home > News > PTI

Hurriyat ready for talks, if allowed to visit Pakistan

December 23, 2002 20:00 IST

Setting a pre-condition, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an amalgam of 23 separatist outfits in Jammu and Kashmir, on Monday said it was ready for talks with the government on the Kashmir issue if it was allowed to visit Pakistan to talk to militant groups there.

Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat said this in a convention of the Islamic Students' League, which was renamed as the Democratic Political Movement.

Bhat said, "If the Hurriyat failed in its endeavour to bring around the militant leadership, it will concede defeat or else India has to give up its rigid stand on Kashmir."

"We can achieve some result and make some headway if the Hurriyat is allowed to go to Pakistan for talks. If India and Pakistan cannot solve Kashmir issue, then let us do it," he said.

Bhat said the amalgam wanted the right to self-determination, a promise made by then prime minister late Jawaharlal Nehru in the United Nations. "Give us what you have promised to Kashmiri people," he said.

Brushing aside the Centre's assertion that the movement in Kashmir was terrorism, the Hurriyat chairman said, "Kashmiris cannot be terrorists. We respect human blood as we respect humans. They cannot carry out an attack on Parliament which they have been accused of."


More reports from Jammu and Kashmir
Read about: The Road to Peace | Kargil Crisis

© Copyright 2006 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
Share your comments

Advertisement






Copyright © 2006 Rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.