He tells Hurriyat: politics holds the key, not violence

This was also confirmed by APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who said that Musharraf’s stand is ‘‘understandable as the entire Kashmir issue is going through a political process.’’ In fact, Musharraf, addressing the complaint of hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani that Pakistan seemed to have abandoned the cause of Kashmir said that he had ‘‘a specific strategy’’ on how to solve the Kashmir issue and was working accordingly. Musharraf spent an hour and half with Geelani yesterday evening.

According to senior Hurriyat leaders, Musharraf emphasized the political process and indicated that the Kashmir solution could not be solved through violence. Besides, he also made it clear that the movement for Kashmir will have to be political in nature and Pakistan is not happy at the use of violence in the name of ‘‘freedom struggle.’’ Even Musharraf’s statement acknowledging that elected representatives in the J&K state were also Kashmiris has not gone unnoticed by the Hurriyat. ‘‘We have never said that we are the only representatives of the Kashmiris…there are mainstream political parties like the PDP and the NC which reflect a different opinion,’’ said the Mirwaiz.

While the Hurriyat wanted that Kashmiris should be involved as a third party in the Indo-Pak dialogue, Musharraf told Pakistani reporters that the APHC requires a ‘‘more practical approach.’’ And reiterated that Islamabad was all for involving the Hurriyat in the dialogue process at some stage.