RTC: ‘Not much’ on agenda, separatists say no to invite

Separatists in the Valley today declined an invite to participate in the third roundtable conference on Kashmir in New Delhi on April 24.

Separatists in the Valley today declined an invite to participate in the third roundtable conference on Kashmir in New Delhi on April 24. While JKLF supremo Yaseen Malik brushed aside any talk of the roundtable at a press conference here, Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq called for the inclusion of the leadership from PoK as a precondition for their participation.

“Hurriyat wants a comprehensive settlement of Kashmir, not a resolution of problems between New Delhi and Srinagar,” Mirwaiz said at a rally in Sumbal, Bandipore. He said Hurriyat would attend a roundtable, which had the resolution of

Kashmir as its chief agenda and included the leadership from PoK. “The agenda of these roundtables is the Centre-state relations and financial assistance to the state, which are not relevant to the basic dispute over Kashmir.”

Mirwaiz also sought the involvement of militant leadership in the dialogue process who, he said, had a better right to represent Kashmiris on account of their sacrifices over the years.

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Malik, on the other hand, said there was no change in the known JKLF position on the roundtables. “Our response is same as in the case of the earlier two conferences,” Malik said. He also announced his plan to launch a campaign next month for involvement of Kashmiris in the ongoing dialogue process between India and Pakistan.

Hardline Hurriyat faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has already boycotted the conference. Geelani is scheduled to address a public rally at Srinagar’s Martyrs Graveyard on April 22, just two days before the roundtable.