A day after the Indo-Pak joint declaration to resume the composite dialogue, the opposition National Conference welcomed the renewed commitment of the two countries to peace and dialogue.
Describing it as a step in the right direction, former Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) working president Omar Abdullah has hailed the announcement of a comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan. He asked why could the cricket teams of the two countries not play.
“Good to see India-Pak announce the Comprehensive Dialogue (replacing the Composite dialogue) to begin forthwith. Step in the right direction,” Omar wrote on the microblogging site Twitter. He lamented that two years had been wasted “needlessly quibbling over the Hurriyat. “Time to now get some continuity and consistency into the Indo-Pak relationship,” he further wrote.
Welcoming the announcement of the comprehensive dialogue process between India and Pakistan, the NC said it was equally important to simultaneously address the internal dimensions of the Kashmir issue by engaging stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir. An NC spokesman sought both New Delhi and Islamabad to start a simultaneous process of sustained political engagement with all shades of opinion in Kashmir, including the Hurriyat leadership.
The NC has jumped on the separatist bandwagon, seeking participation of internal stakeholders on both sides of the Line of Control.
“The process of any successful dialogue between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue has to include various shades of opinion and leadership and fora on both sides of the Line of Control, representative as well as ideological,” said NC spokesperson Junaid Mattu.
Meanwhile, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), on the pattern of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, has sought the involvement of Kashmiris in the ongoing dialogue process.
JKLF chairman Yasin Malik today demanded inclusion of people of Kashmir in the comprehensive dialogue process. Addressing a press conference in the Maisuma locality of Srinagar, Malik rejected the joint statement of Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart. Yasin said he was not against the dialogue process but wanted inclusion of Kashmiris in the process.
