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Gujral offers unconditional talks with Kashmiri separatists
Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar
Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, who arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit on Saturday, offered to hold unconditional talks with Kashmiri separatists. This is for the first time that the government has offered to hold such talks.
Addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stone of the 290-km Udhampur-Baramullah railway line at Qazi Gund, Gujral said, "Kashmiris have suffered a lot during the past seven years and they have made great sacrifices."
All this had happened due to the acts of "our neighbour", he said, hinting at Pakistan.
He offered unconditional talks with the "misguided youths" and said, "We want to bring them back into the mainstream. We all belong to one country." He also discussed the three-month ceasefire Naga separatists had declared after his intervention.
Discussing ties with Pakistan, he said, "India wants good neighbourly relations with Pakistan." He added that both countries, instead of spending money on buying arms, should utilise "their resources for the upliftment of the poor". He said the foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet again soon in New Delhi.
"Pakistan should not waste the ammunition in Kashmir and stop supporting the militancy. I am offering a hand of friendship to Pakistan," the prime minister said.
Reacting cautiously to the offer, All-Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq told Rediff On The NeT that his "party was not against talks with anyone", adding that the Government of India was not being practical.
"The Government of India should recognise that Kashmir is a disputed territory and that Kashmiris are the basic party to this dispute. We can then talk to anyone," he said.
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