Talks on agenda,J-K govt to release Shabir Shah

“Yes,we are planning to do that (release Shah),” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told The Indian Express.

The Chief Minister has already expressed full support of his government for resumption of direct talks between the Centre and the separatists. “I am aware that there are people who think there is no need for engaging separatists after the successful Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Elections have nothing to do with it. If we do not talk to separatists,we will make a big mistake,” Omar said recently. “My government will facilitate such a process.”  

Shah,who was arrested for his role in the separatist protests in the Valley over the past one year,especially during the Amarnath land row,has always been pro-talks but had lately drifted towards the hardline camp. In fact,the J-K police had accused him of establishing constant contact over phone with Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed.

The release of Shah was stated to be one of the Hurriyat’s demands as a confidence building measures to facilitate dialogue. Mirwaiz,in public statements,has called for the release of the separatist prisoners.  He had also indicated that there has been a contact between the Centre and the Hurriyat. “Hurriyat is keen to renew the engagement and pick up the thread from where we left it,” he said. “I think flexibility is the need of hour. We have to be open to all new proposals on Kashmir. A hawkish outlook will get us nowhere,” Mirwaiz said in an apparent dig at his hardline counterpart Syed Ali Geelani.

Geelani rejects any new settlement proposals on Kashmir and insists on UN resolutions on Kashmir to be the starting point for any initiative on the state.