‘A meeting of minds’ at Delhi

The crucial meeting on the peace initiative in Jammu and Kashmir that has been described as the "meeting of minds" between the Centre...

The crucial meeting on the peace initiative in Jammu and Kashmir that has been described as the “meeting of minds” between the Centre and the moderate faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference today decided to carry foward the dialogue begun more than two years ago.

At the end of the session lasting for nearly two hours at the Prime Minister’s residence, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told newsmen that all issues associated with the problem came up for discussion. “To ensure a forward movement on them, a mechanism will soon be worked out and submitted to the government,” he said in a brief statement.

At the discussions, all members took their turns to speak their minds. While the Mirwaiz repeated Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s idea of self-governance for Jammu and Kashmir, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat harped on the release of detenues that was also discussed at the conclave last year in September.

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The Hurriyat delegate said the five themes — trade, movement of people across the LoC, human rights, security and development — were deliberated upon with the government delegation asking the amalgam to forward proposals on each of them. The government is of the view that an agenda would emerge and a dialogue would take a definite direction once they are chalked out.

Besides the Prime Minister, the government delegation included Home Minister Shivraj Patil, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, government representative for the talks N N Vohra and the PM’s Principal Secretary T K A Nair.

The Hurriyat Conference was represented by a six-member team led by the Mirwaiz and included Bilal Lone, Fazzal Haque Qureshi, Aga Saiyyid Badgami, Maulana Abbas Ansari and Prof Abdul Gani Bhat.

Though a proposal was made to the amalgam to attend the second roundtable on May 25, it remained non-committal saying that it needed to discuss the matter. Mirwaiz said a decision would be taken once the details were made available to them. The PM on his part was “extremely happy” with the proceedings today, describing it as the “meeting of minds that augurs well for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country.”

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The next meeting is likely to be held with the Home Minister.