With clamour rising over talks, an amalgam of separatist groups headed by Syed Ali Geelani said on Tuesday that the five-point formula of 2010 provides a “baseline” for dialogue with New Delhi.
GA Gulzar, the chief spokesman of Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference, said the five-point formula which was presented by the separatist amalgam during the 2010 unrest provided “a baseline for any dialogue.”
The five points proposed by Geelani in 2010 include repeal of “black laws”, demilitarisation of the populated area, release of political prisoners, recognition of Kashmir dispute and punishment for the security personnel involved in the killings of civilians.
Gulzar, however, said the Kashmir issue was “above the Indian Constitution”. “The only acceptable solution to this vexed issue lies in the compliance of the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir,” Gulzar said in a statement.
“The five-point formula presented by the Hurriyat Conference in 2010 provides a baseline for any dialogue with India,” he said. “This formula lays down the criteria that unless India accepts Kashmir as a dispute, it would be an exercise in futility to talk about meaningless bilateral talks with India,” he said.
In November 2010, then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had responded to Geelani’s proposal and said that New Delhi had already acknowledged Kashmir as a dispute and the remaining four points were within the jurisdiction of the state government. The separatist spokesman also accused New Delhi of suffering from “arrogance of power” and “strongly rejected” any proposal of entering a “bilateral dialogue process with India”.
The development over dialogue with New Delhi comes at a time when the Central government has made the offer of talks and also initiated a month-long unilateral ceasefire which might be extended further.
Another separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, had last week said the separatist leadership was in “no hurry” to respond to New Delhi’s dialogue offer. He had said the separatist leaders will discuss the matter in the coming days and will respond after due deliberations.
Five point formula baseline for talks: Separatist Groups
