SRINAGAR, Feb 28: There appear to be few takers in the Congress high command for the high-pitched demand by the state unit that the Centre should start an open dialogue with Kashmiri separatist groups.Backed by her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mehbooba Mufti, Congress Legislature Party leader, has for months been demanding that the Centre issue an open invitation to `anyone' who wants to discuss a solution to the Kashmir issue. But the Central leadership appears to oppose or be indifferent to the idea of `unconditional' dialogue.Predictably, Farooq Abdullah's National Conference pulled up the state Congress on this as the Budget session of the J&K's Assembly began. But even the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, umbrella organisation of separatist parties which the Mufti and his daughter feel could be the Centre's dialogue partner, is not interested. ``The Mufti is just trying to win Kashmiris' sympathy,'' a Hurriyat leader said.Contacted in Delhi, Congress leaders did not dismiss outright thesuggestion of talking to the enemy.``There is no harm in conducting a dialogue,'' said Ahmed Patel, a state hand in the All-India Congress Committee (AICC). But he added a clear rider: The talks must be held within the framework of the Constitution.Ghulam Nabi Azad, another state strongman in the party, spelt out preconditions more explicitly. Apart from agreeing to abide by the Constitution, a militant outfit should eschew violence before coming to the negotiating table, he said. The Mufti and his daughter do not mention this.Despite the apparent difference in approach to the issue of talks, the AICC is letting matters be. A senior AICC functionary admitted the party had yet to work out a clear-cut policy. ``We have to reconcile between the approaches suggested by Mufti Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad,'' he said.
