Former Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani said today that he would convince militants to observe a ceasefire if New Delhi agreed that Kashmir is disputed territory.‘‘Hurriyat wants a meaningful dialogue to end all hostilities. We have always advocated dialogue and talked of India-Pakistan friendship,’’ Geelani told The Indian Express in an interview.‘‘I will plead with the militants for a ceasefire if the Government accepts that Kashmir is a dispute in principle. A dialogue that would be result-oriented is the need of the hour’’.When asked whether Pakistan should review its position after the September 11 attacks, Geelani said: ‘‘It (Pakistan) should be cautious because America has renewed interests in the sub-continent’’.Geelani, who arrived recently after 10 months of incarceration and health problems, said there was also a need for the people of Pakistan to examine change in global perception especially after the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.Geelani, however, said New Delhi’s reluctance to hold tripartite and result-oriented dialogue is leaving Kashmiris with very few options. He said either Kashmiris should outrightly ‘‘surrender’’ or continue fighting till they achieve ‘‘freedom’’.He defended the role of foreign militants in the struggle and said ‘‘they are our guests who fight for our cause’’ and ‘‘we have a duty to respect their martyrdom’’. ‘‘What prompts a person from Afghanistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia or any other Islamic country to come to Kashmir when they are fated to die here? Obviously, they must be pained to hear about the suffering of Muslim Kashmiris,’’ he said.Asked whether militancy was helping the ‘‘Kashmir cause’’ after 9/11, Geelani said: ‘‘We have always condemned incidents like Nadimarg, Legislative Assembly attack and Wundhama. But, incidents like the one at Chittisingpora have opened the Pandora’s box. It is an open secret about who killed the Sikhs there when an investigation was conducted,’’ he said.‘‘The Hurriyat has always exhorted on instituting independent inquires into the killings. Kashmir has become a killing field where several agencies are operating,’’ he said. When asked who was the second in line if he retires, Geelani said he has faith in senior Jamat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Ashraf Sahria, who is currently in Hazaribagh jail. Geelani accused New Delhi of torturing him during his seven-month detention at Birsa Munda Jail, Jharkhand. ‘‘Sometimes, they (jail authorities) would let noxious coal fumes into my room. As I had acute bronchitis, the smoke would deteriorate my health further,’’ he said.‘‘I was not allowed to see a doctor even when chest pains became unbearable,’’ he claimed. Geelani dismissed Central interlocutor N.N. Vohra’s Kashmir mission as a ‘‘fruitless’’ exercise aimed at ‘‘consuming time without moving an inch forward on the Kashmir dispute’’.
