Separatists shut their door on Rajnath’s team, leave India red faced

BJP non-committal, didn’t say whether Yechuri, Sharad, Raja, Owaisi drove to Geelani, Mirwaiz, Yasin of their own or with HM’s consent

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Sep 4: Kashmiri separatist leaders on Sunday left the Indian nation red-faced by slamming their doors on the union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s team of the Parliament members and refusing to talk to four key members of the all-party delegation who called on Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik.

Even as the 29-member delegation of senior MPs from about 20 ruling and opposition parties arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to talk to “everybody” on the current turbulence, triggered by Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing in an encounter on July 8, nobody other than the delegations of the mainstream political parties came forward for a meeting. At SKICC, the delegation headed by Rajnath Singh interacted with the delegations from the ruling PDP besides the opposition National Conference, CPI (M) and other not-so-important mainstream political parties.

PDP leader and Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu read out a presentation which, according to the Hyderabad MP Assaduddin Owaisi, was "full of contradictions". Owaisi said on NDTV that PDP held Pakistan responsible for the Kashmir upheaval but advocated talks with the same country.

Nobody turned up from the civil society, local businessmen and other activists, who have been regularly meeting with the Indian dignitaries on such occasions, as the separatist Hurriyat Conference and different militant alliances had made it clear that there would be no talks with the delegation. They had contended that the visiting delegation of the MPs had neither mandate nor intention to discuss any solution to the Kashmir problem outside the purview of the Indian constitution. Sources said a 3-member delegation claiming to represent hitherto unknown 'Kashmir Media Association', D.P. Dhar Memorial School owner Vijay Dhar, SKUAST (K) VC Merajuddin and an unknown fruit grower from Baramulla met the delegation.

Breaking away from the delegation, five key opposition leaders---CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri, AIMIM President Assaduddin Owaisi, JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav, RJD leader Jayaprakash Narayan Yadav and D. Raja of CPI---drove all the way to Cheshma Shahi to meet Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq who has been lodged in a government hut which has been designated as 'Sub Jail' last week.

While the four MPs were not allowed in, Mirwaiz entertained only his frequent visitor and friend Owaisi. He, however, refused to talk to him on the Kashmir problem or the current situation. According to Owaisi, Mirwaiz was "upset over the killings" and he asserted that the separatists, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik, had decided that nobody of them would meet the Indian leaders as they had no mandate from their country to discuss a solution to the Kashmir problem.

Declaring J&K as a "disputed territory" before any dialogue is Hurriyat's key precondition. Though Owaisi claimed that Mirwaiz shared with him black tea and entertained him for 15 minutes, sources privy to the meeting said that it lasted for only five minutes. Owaisi stood back but the four MPs proceeded to the Police gazetted officers resthouse at Humhama and Hyderpora to try a meeting with the detained JKLF Chairman and Mr Geelani respectively. Sources said that Yasin Malik too turned the MPs back while maintaining that the separatists had decided not to meet with any of the MPs. He told them when India would "create a conducive atmosphere", they would visit them in New Delhi.

The delegation of MPs, also accompanied by PDP’s Rajya Sabha member Fayaz Ahmad Mir, reached Hyderpora and attempted to enter Geelani’s residence which had been already bolted from inside. Nobody responded to Yechuri's knocks at the door. Geelani’s men told the MPs that he would not meet anybody of them. They were disgracefully turned back amid pro-Pakistan, pro-Azadi and anti-India slogans by a motley crowd.

A joint statement later issued by Geelani, Mirwaiz and Yasin Malik said, “In politics, India has deployed deceit, double talk, themselves and through their quislings, continuously for the past 70 years. These deceitful methods of crisis management through parliamentary delegations and Track-II only prolong the sufferings of the people and can’t take the place of a genuine, transparent, agenda-based dialogue to address the core issue of the people’s right to self-determination in Jammu and Kashmir".

Questioned over embarrassment to the top Indian parliamentarians, BJP leaders from New Delhi to Srinagar remained non-committal on whether the four opposition MPs had visited the separatists of their own or with the consent of the head of the delegation and union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. However, Yechuri, Raja, Owaisi and Yadav maintained that they had called on Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik in “individual capacity”.

The Hurriyat leaders and the JKLF Chairman had already rejected Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s invitation for dialogue with the all-party delegation, calling her government “a civilian mask to a brutal military occupation”. They had said in a statement that the delegation was nothing but a “deceitful method of crisis management”.

Hurriyat (Mirwaiz) spokesman Shahid-ul-Islam said that two members of the delegation, including Owaisi, called on Mirwaiz at Cheshma Shahi Sub Jail but Mirwaiz refused to talk to them on the Kashmir crisis. While shaking hands with Owaisi, Mirwaiz told him that he would not talk to them either on Kashmir issue or on the two-month-long turmoil.

The JKLF spokesman said that the Indian delegation was taken directly to Yasin Malik’s room at a Police Station in Humhama near Srinagar Airport. Malik refused to meet the MPs with the argument that they had no mandate to talk to the separatists outside the Indian constitution. According to JKLF spokesman, he pointed out to the MPs that the leader of their delegation and union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had already made it clear publicly that the team’s deliberation would be strictly under the purview of the Indian constitution. He emphasised that there was no point in talking to the MPs.

Malik, according to the spokesman, said that it was the separatists' considered decision that they would not talk to anybody on a solution within Indian constitution.

LeT showers praise

In a press release, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba spokesman Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi said that by refusing to meet the Indian parliamentary delegation the Kashmiri separatist leaders had "conveyed a clear message to world community that the people of Kashmir were demanding only freedom from India". LeT chief Mehmood Shah, according to the statement, said that right to self-determinations was the "birth right of every Kashmiri".

He said “using bullets, pellets, tear gas shells and other weapons to foil the protest rallies in Anantnag, Shopian, Kupwara, Kulgam and other districts is an open example of Indian terrorism.”

 The LeT chief said “at a time when the all-party delegation arrived in the Valley, the innocent people of Kashmir were maimed by the forces. He appealed the international human rights groups to look into the issue. Shah, as per the statement, paid tributes to the youths killed during the clashes and also prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.

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All-party delegation meets Governor

Srinagar, Sep 4: Governor N.N. Vohra on Sunday evening had discussions with the all-party delegation led by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, at Raj Bhawan. The Governor briefed the delegation about current political situation in the State and some of the measures which need to be taken for the restoration of peace and normalcy.

The delegation comprised Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley; Union Minister of Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan; Minister of State for the Development of North Eastern Region in Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh; Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress) Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha; Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha; Sharad Yadav JD (U); Anandrao Adusa (Shiv Sena); Thota Narasimham (T.D.P); Prem Singh Chandumajra (S.A.D); Biswajit Dalmary (B.P.F.); Tariq Anwar (NCP); Dr. P. Venugopal (AIADMK); Prof. Saugata Roy (AITC); Dilip Tirkey (BJD); Sitaram Yechury, (CPI(M)); Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav (RJD); D. Raja, (CPI); Dushyant Chautala, (INLD); E. Ahmad (IUML); and Tiruchi Siva (DMK).

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J&K Govt. delegation led by CM meets APD

Mehbooba for instituting institutionalised mechanism for dialogue, resolution

 STATE TIMES NEWS

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SRINAGAR, Sep 4: Welcoming the visit of the all-party delegation to J&K, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has called for creating an institutionalised mechanism for dialogue and resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Interacting with the visiting APD at SKICC here this afternoon, Chief Minister stressed the need for creating a new basis of legitimacy for the peace and resolution process to take shape. “The need of the hour is to revive the reconciliation and resolution process through an institutionalized mechanism involving all the stakeholders,” she said and added that the challenge before the leadership of the State and the country was to insulate the process against the setbacks that have derailed political initiatives in the past.

“All of us are deeply concerned about the painful situation existing in Kashmir and a credible and meaningful political dialogue and resolution process has to be initiated to end the stalemate,” Mehbooba said and added that it is a welcome step that cutting across the party lines and political positions, the country’s political leadership has reached out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Chief Minister said that all the mainstream political parties and separatist leadership in the State voice the urges and aspirations of the people and seek a lasting resolution of the problems confronting Jammu and Kashmir.  “In the ‘Agenda of Alliance’, which is the basis of our government formation with our alliance partners, BJP, it has been made clear that the State Government would create conditions to facilitate resolution of all issues and help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all the stakeholders, including all political groups in J&K irrespective of their ideological views and predilections to build a broad based consensus on resolution of all outstanding issues of J&K,” she said.

Mehbooba expressed hope that the visit of the all-party delegation would be the first step towards putting in place an institutionalized mechanism for the lasting resolution of the issue to make peace and stability a reality in the State and the region.

Earlier, Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu gave a detailed presentation regarding the political, economic and developmental challenges confronting J&K and a possible roadmap on how to pull the State out of the morass.

The State Government delegation which was headed by the Chief Minister also included Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh, Minister for R&B, Abdul Rehman Veeri and Minister for Social Welfare, Sajad Gani Lone.

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Separatist leadership reacts to Mehbooba’s invitation

‘Mehbooba aware that Indian war machine is on a spree to kill, maim Kashmiris’

SRINAGAR, Sep 04: Reacting to the PDP President Mehbooba Mufti’s invitation for meeting the Indian Parliamentary delegation, resistance leadership Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik in a joint statement has said that Nobody is more aware than Mehbooba Ji that the Indian war machine is on a spree to kill, maim and disfigure an entire population into complete submission for demanding freedom from Indian occupation which is the birth right of all human beings.

 Unfortunately Indian occupation forces in J&K have a fig-leaf available in the shape of a quisling government fronted by her with the only brief to provide a civilian mask to a brutal military occupation. Despite killings and injuries of war-proportions she continues to perform shamelessly this role of obfuscation.

 They further said that given this situation it is not surprising that even now her dominant concern, as expressed in her letter, is to ``lend credence and credibility`` to the Indian Parliamentary Delegation visiting Kashmir avowedly to ascertain wishes of the people. Everyone knows that people have been shouting AAZADI on the roads for those who want to listen and writing on walls and placards for those who can see. The dirty ambitions of the collaborators and their masters in Delhi have turned them deaf and blind.

 While commenting on Mehbooba Ji’s outburst a few days, the resistance leadership said that the sickness of her mind touched a new low when she recently tried to justify the Indian brutalities by saying that Kashmiri boys don’t go out to the camps with milk and toffees; that seemed to even embarrass her Indian boss sitting beside. They should not have forgotten that a terrorised population cannot greet an occupation army but with stones.

 Resistance leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik said that Indian engagement with the people of Jammu and Kashmir has been only through state violence perpetrated through these armed forces that have killed close to a lakh and brutalised all of the population. In politics India has deployed deceit, double talk, themselves and through their quislings, continuously for the past 70 years. These deceitful methods of crisis management through Parliamentary Delegations and Track-II only prolong the sufferings of the people and can`t take the place of a genuine transparent agenda-based dialogue to address the core issue of the Peoples` right to self-determination in Jammu and Kashmir. That has been our consistent stand and has been spelled out recently as well in our letters to various international and global fora.

 They once again clarified that one fails to understand what hope to attach with a delegation which has neither spelled out its mandate for any engagement on a clear agenda. People know that it is the same parliament which has given unfettered powers to their occupying force to use violence to hold Jammu and Kashmir forcibly with India against all norms of civilised behaviour and international law resulting in death, destruction, collective punishments and humiliation.

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