The assertion comes two days after Miwaiz had met other top leaders of the moderate faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference in Srinagar for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019
Moderate Hurriyat chairman and chief priest of Jamia Masjid in Srinagar Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said that the organisation was ready to engage with the central government in New Delhi for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue.
The assertion comes two days after Miwaiz had met other top leaders of the moderate faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference in Srinagar for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
While delivering his sermon at the mosque on the occasion of Friday, Mirwaiz, as quoted in a statement, said that he got to meet his colleagues Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Gani Lone and Masroor Ansari together for the first time after more than five years since August 2019 during which he was “mostly under house arrest”.
“It was very emotional. They remembered their colleagues who passed away during this time, Syed Ali Geelani sb, Molana Abbas Ansari sb, Musaddiq Adil Sb, Ashraf Sehrai sb. The members also regretted the continued detention of other colleagues and Hurriyat leaders languishing in jails, including Yasin Malik Sb, Shabir Shah Sb, Asiya Andrabi Sahiba, Shahidul Islam, Nayeem khan, Qasim Phaktoo, Masarat Alam, Peer Hafizullah, Ayaz Akbar and others,” said Mirwaiz.
Mirwaiz said that ‘we also shared our reflections’ on the changed situation of the past five years within Jammu and Kashmir and the effects of the rapidly changing geopolitical scenario on it.
“When APHC was formed by the leadership in 1993, the situation was entirely different with terrorism at its peak. Even at that time, APHC in its proclamation clearly stated that it advocates a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict by engagement and even after thirty years this outlook remains the same,” he said.
Mirwaiz said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself at the BRICS summit, “spoke about dialogue and diplomacy as the means for settling conflicts and not war”.
“Hurriyat talked to Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sb, Manmohan Singh ji and with Parvez Musharraf Sb, and is always ready to engage with the current dispensation in New Delhi. There has been too much bloodshed in Kashmir to allow it to continue,” he said.
Mirwaiz said the recent killing in Gagangir was very shocking and disturbing. “Now we hear of killings in the high security area of Gulmarg. These are very serious matters that can escalate and should be investigated,” he said.
