Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: December 6, 2010
A delegation of MPs and civil society members,
who are on a "fact-finding" tour of Jammu and Kashmir, asked the
Centre on Saturday to start a dialogue process for the resolution ofthe Kashmir
issue and include separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani in it.
After holding an hour-long meeting with Geelani
at his residence here, delegation members led by Lok J anshakti Party president
Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters they had come to follow up , on the visit
of the, all-party delegation led by Home Minister P Chidambaram, who visited
the Valley in September. "We are happy to note that the situation in
Kashmir is peaceful after the visit of the all-party delegation. The government
announced an eight point package after the visit, but there is no visible
implementation of these steps on the ground," he said.
In their talks with Geelani and moderate Hurriyat
chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Parliamentary-cum-civil society delegation
expressed unhappiness over the Centre's initiative on Kashmir, saying that
the recommendations of the all party-delegation that had visited in September
had been ignored.
Lok Jana Shakti leader Ram Vilas Paswan also
batted for Geelani's five point proposal, saying it was possible for the Centre
to meet four out the five demands.
"I think the Centre should positively
respond to the five proposals. There should at least be no objection to meeting
four of the five proposals," Paswan told the media after his meeting
with Geelani in the morning. He, however, expressed reservations about recognising
Kashmir as a disputed territory. There was scope to move for ward on the resolution
of the Kashmir issue, he said. "We can have confidence-building measures
like the revocation of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act to create a conducive
atmosphere for the talks to start," Paswan said.
The delegation expressed dismay at the appointment
of "non-political negotiators", and made a case for a parliamentary
group to deal with Kashmir. Paswan, who spoke on behalf of the delegation,
said a parliamentary group would have been a better option. He also said the
Centre had ignored the recommendations of the all-party delegation.
Mirwaiz said the Hurriyat had impressed upon
the delegation that New Delhi should directly confront the Kashmir issue.
"We told them that the confidence-building measures will go on. What
we need is to crack the larger problem," Mirwaiz told The Indian Express.
.
The 11-member delegation includes Ram Vilas
Paswan and Shoaib Iqbal of the Lok Janshakti Party, D Raja of the
Communist Party of India, Gopal Choudary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist),
Namo Nageshwar Rao of Telgu Desham Party, Danish Ali of Janta Dal (Secular),
Maheshwar Hazari of Janta Dal (United), Shahid Siddiqui of Rashtriya Lok Dal.
