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September 8, 2002
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APHC, Kashmir panel call for
flexible, realistic approach

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and the Kashmir Committee have said that the Kashmir problem can be solved only if the concerned parties adopt a flexible and realistic approach on contentious issues.

The two sides issued a joint statement, read out by Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, at the end of the third round of discussions in New Delhi on Sunday.

"The APHC and the Kashmir Committee have unanimously agreed that all concerned parties must rise above their traditional views, abandon extreme positions and show the necessary flexibility and pragmatism to reach an acceptable solution," the statement said.

The two sides also 'condemned all forms of violence, including that perpetrated by some sections of the state'.

However, the Mirwaiz refused to give a categorical assurance that the APHC would not issue a poll boycott call to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"As far as we are concerned, elections are a non-issue. We are only talking of a structured dialogue. We are hopeful that things would be clearer after the special emergency session of the UN general assembly later this week," he said.

Among other things, the two parties have agreed that the Kashmir Committee, headed by Ram Jethmalani, should meet its counterpart in Pakistan, headed by former prime minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Sardar Abdul Qayoom Khan.

Though the APHC leaders are yet to talk to Sardar Abdul Qayoom Khan on this issue, they are confident that the latter would readily respond to the invitation to hold talks with the Kashmir Committee chaired by Ram Jethmalani, Mirwaiz said.

They appealed to the governments of India and Pakistan to create conditions for reducing tension on the Indo-Pakistan border.

"The two sides emphasised that all those who have been forced to migrate from the state should return and be rehabilitated," they said.

The APHC is against converting the Line of Control into the international border, the Mirwaiz said. "We want reunification of Kashmir," he pointed out.

He dismissed a US survey, which concluded that independent Kashmir would be a safe haven for terrorist outfits.

More reports from Jammu and Kashmir

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