Govt contacts emissary, talks set in motion

Qureshi was nominated by HM at a day-long meeting of its Field Command Council headed by Chief Commander Abdul Majid Dar here yesterday. The meeting was attended by all divisional commanders’ of the outfit in the Valley and Doda.

Qureshi told reporters he was waiting for the "guidelines" from HM to proceed with the talks with Centre.

He said there should be no pre-conditions for the proposed talks and everything should be decided across the table.

"Talks should be held with an open mind and after that, Pakistan should be involved in the process for the final resolution of the Kashmir problem," he said, adding any decision arrived at in trilateral negotitions would be accepted.

Qureshi, who was nominated as negotiator by Hizbul, said the outift had formally asked him for mediation with the Government.

Asked why he was chosen as negotiator, he said, "I was always for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute, so that is why I was chosen as the mediator… I expressed my readiness and willingness to play the role of negotiator when Hizbul Mujahideen contacted me," he said.

Qureshi criticised Hurriyat Conference for its statement, terming the ceasefire decision as a "hasty step".

He disclosed that the chief commander of Hizbul Abdul, Majid Dar, had approached Hurriyat, but it avoided him by adopting "delaying tactics".

Qureshi said there should be no pre-conditions for talks and everything should be decided across the table.

"Talks should be held with an open mind and after that, Pakistan should be involved in the talks process for the final resolution of the Kashmir dispute", he said.