The chairman of United Jihad Council (UJC) and supreme commander of Hizbul Mujhahideen Syed Sallahudin today hit out at New Delhi for what he termed as “using talks as an instrument to dilute the intensity of freedom movement in Kashmir.”
“Under the garb of so-called dialogue, successive regimes in New Delhi have always tried to create a smokescreen in the eyes of international community,” Salahuddin said.
“Our stance in this regard is crystal clear that the dispute of Kashmir can be resolved by implementing the UN resolutions on Kashmir or through a meaningful, Kashmir-centric tripartite talks involving Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris who happens to be the basic and principle party to the dispute. Talks on Kashmir would be a charade unless these certain basic conditions were fulfilled,” he said.
Commenting on New Delhi’s point man Dineshwar Sharma’s engagement with different segments of Kashmiri society, the UJC chief said, “holding meetings with non-stakeholders, irrelevant political entities almost non-existent at local level is nothing but a mockery of dialogue”.
“The way Mr. Sharma is wandering aimlessly in Kashmir speaks volumes about the non-seriousness of the Indian government vis-à-vis Kashmir”, the UJC chief said adding that “the BJP government’s decision to appoint former IB Director Dineshwar Sharma as new interlocutor for Kashmir was tantamount to selling old wine in new bottles.”
“Sharma has actually been tasked to play the same role, which his predecessors like K C Pant, Arun Jaitley, Dileep Padgaonkar, M M Ansari and Radha Kumar and others had played earlier”, he said.
“If New Delhi was really serious in resolving the long-pending dispute of Kashmir then it must not shy away from holding dialogue with those who really matter in Kashmir”, Sallahudin said
He said “ignoring the main stakeholders (resistance leadership) in Kashmir India like covering the Sun with one finger,” he added.
When asked about why the resistance leadership in Kashmir was so reluctant to meet the BJP’s point man on Kashmir, the Hizb supremo said, “The resistance leadership has never been averse to any dialogue process, but what they actually call for is a meaningful, time-bound and Kashmir centric dialogue”.
“Resistance leaders including the Jihadi leadership have always advocated and supported sincere and productive dialogue as a means of conflict resolution, but history stands witness to the fact that India had always used dialogue as a dilly-dallying tactics just to ward off internal and external pressure”, he maintained.
He said so far hundreds of rounds of bilateral dialogue have been held between India and Pakistan on the issue. “But these talks could never reach to any conclusion,” he said.
Stressing the need for resolving Kashmir in line with the relevant UN resolutions and the aspirations of Kashmir people, the Hizb chief said that “Kashmir issue was all about the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir and there would be no compromise whatsoever on this issue.”
GOI using so-called dialogue to dilute Kashmir movement: Syed Salahuddin
