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Soz calls for unconditional dialogue with militants

Former Union minister Saifuddin Soz said an unconditional dialogue with separatists, including militants, was necessary to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Talking to journalists in Srinagar today, Soz, who is contesting elections from Baramulla parliamentary constituency as an independent said there should be no pre-condition either from the government or from separatist organisations to sit across the table and find ways to bring peace to the valley.

Regarding Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah's suggestion that the line of control be converted into an international boundary, Soz said people were more interested in knowing how Indo-Pak relations could improve decisively.

Soz, who was expelled from the National Conference for voting against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre during the confidence motion, said the NC leadership seemed to have destroyed the very instrument for promoting ideas in the new generation. That was why, he claimed, the party was no longer in command as far as issues were concerned and why it had nothing to offer to the next generation.

Soz said the most tragic part of the state government from its very inception was the lack of an effective system to ensure consultation on vital issues.

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