Moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on Friday welcomed Indo-Pakistan talks as a "good omen" and said bold initiatives were needed for the success of the bilateral dialogue process. "It is a good omen that India and Pakistan have agreed to write a new chapter in their history. There is a need for taking bold steps, leaving behind the past bitterness and the practice of complicating the issues," Mirwaiz said while addressing a Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid.
'While National War Memorial is great, the memories of Amar Jawan Jyoti are indelible'
Though the main focus of talks between Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir is on peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir and CBMs, other issues like release of prisoners, visa relaxation, trade and commerce will also come up for discussions.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be meeting his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit to be held in the Maldives next week.
The meeting of the working group on cross-Line of Control CBMs, earlier scheduled to be held on July 10, was postponed as Joint Secretary T C A Raghavan, who was to lead the Indian delegation, rushed to the Afghan capital after the suicide attack on the Indian embassy there on Monday last that killed 58 people.
India and Pakistan should make Kashmiris a party in the peace process, which was set in motion five years ago, according to the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front."Kashmir is not a border dispute between India and Pakistan that they will sit together and resolve it and thrust the decision on Kashmiris," JKLF Chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik said. "We appeal to both India and Pakistan to make Kashmiris a party in the peace process aimed at resolving the Kashmir issue," he said.
India and Pakistan will discuss measures to counter terrorism and exchange information to assist in investigations related to terrorist acts during a meeting in Islamabad on June 24.
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