Himalayan dispute: Pakistan insists on trilateral Kashmir solution

Hurriyat leaders call on Pakistan high commissioner to India

NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan continues to stand its ground on resolving the Kashmir dispute through trilateral talks, involving the Kashmiris, in bilateral dialogue with India.

“The Kashmiri people are important stakeholders in resolving the long-standing dispute,” read a statement issued by the Foreign Office on Tuesday, a day after the Indian foreign ministry said there was no need for any third parties to have a dialogue, referring to Kashmir as a third party. The Foreign Office reiterated that the Kashmiri people were the ones who needed to exercise their right to self-determination.

Last August, India had cancelled the foreign secretary-level talks over Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit’s meeting with leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an alliance of 26 Kashmiri parties, in New Delhi.

The controversy deepened on Monday when the high commissioner invited Hurriyat leaders to the Pakistan Day celebrations in the Indian capital. The development prompted the Indian foreign ministry to issue a statement insisting that the Kashmiri people had no role in the Pakistan-India dialogue.

However, Islamabad has reminded New Delhi that the final decision in the Kashmir conflict should be consistent with the will of the Kashmiri people, to be determined through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations.



“Pakistan has all along maintained that dialogue between Pakistan and India is important for peace, economic development and welfare of the people of South Asia,” said the statement, adding that Pakistan was committed to a “sustained, unconditional and result-oriented dialogue” with India to discuss all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

Hurriyat-Basit meeting

Hurriyat leaders met Basit on Tuesday for the third time in as many days, but in two separate groups. Exactly what transpired in the meetings is not known, but Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Bhat first met with his supporters, followed by the hard-line group leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The last round of such talks had kicked off with former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf’s meeting with the then Indian premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Agra.

Musharraf had advised Hurriyat leaders to re-prioritise their campaign and give up the demand for a separate Kashmir. He had also indicated that carrying the Hurriyat on Pakistan’s back was becoming a burden.

APHC chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who held a one-to-one meeting with Basit on Sunday, said speculation in the media should be ignored. “The central issue is whether there is political will between the two countries to go together,” said Farooq. “The media cannot hold the government hostage; it cannot hold Kashmir or the Kashmir policy hostage.”

Geelani also held a one-to-one meeting with Basit, followed by delegation-level talks, which his spokesman Ayaz Akbar, son-in-law Altaf Shah and Bashir Ahmed attended for nearly two hours.

The controversial presence of Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Gen VK Singh, also a former army chief, at the Pakistan Day reception in New Delhi a day earlier was acknowledged as India’s decision to resume dialogue with Pakistan, said Basit.

He said India had realised that any breakdown in dialogue was not in its own benefit. “We have made it clear that we are in favour of dialogue, but the dialogue has to be Kashmir-specific first. If both the countries find a solution according to the aspirations of the people of the state, then other issues will be sorted out automatically.”

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2015.