Without Kashmir India-Pakistan Talks Futile: Hurriyat

SRINAGAR: Days after the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hinted that Pakistan is open to dialogue with India without any preconditions, the Hurriyat Conference said Tuesday that any dialogue between the two countries will be futile without resolving the Kashmir issue.

“The basic issue between India and Pakistan is the unresolved Kashmir dispute and until this issue is addressed as core issue and solved according to the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people, the dialogues between these two countries will prove a futile exercise like in the past,” veteran Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani said.

During a meeting with his British counterpart David Cameron on the sidelines of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta last month, Sharif had indicated that Pakistan is ready for a dialogue with India without pre-conditions for "sustainable" peace.

On Monday, Sharif and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of UN climate summit in Paris, ratcheting up hopes of a thaw in relations between the two countries. Indian side described the meeting as an "exchange of courtesies" while Pakistan termed it as a "good" encounter.

Urging Sharif to show consistency in his Kashmir policy, Geelani said: “If Pakistan maintains consistency in its Kashmir policy, India will definitely face difficulties in front of international community and it will not be in a position to defend its forced military occupation in Kashmir.”

Meanwhile, moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq welcomed the statement of the United Nations Secretary General , Ban Ki-Moon, that the leadership of India and Pakistan should hold dialogue to resolve their differences.

"The bitter relations between India and Pakistan are a result of the long-pending Kashmir dispute and true peace and stability can’t be achieved in the South Asian region until the dispute is resolved in accordance with the wishes of the people of Kashmir,” Mirwaiz said.

Urging the United Nations to play a proactive role to resolve the Kashmir dispute and push the leadership of the two countries to initiate a meaningful dialogue to resolve the vexed Kashmir issue and all other pending issues between the two countries.

“Kashmir issue is a political and human issue which has to be resolved either through the implementation of the United Nations resolutions or through tripartite talks involving New Delhi, Islamabad and the real leadership of Kashmir,” Mirwaiz said.