Step forward: Hurriyat to talk to parties

The conglomerate has deputed a two-member delegation comprising former chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and JKLF chief Yasin Malik to Delhi for the mission. The two said they would be meeting leaders of various other parties. They refused to make any comments after the 40-minute meeting with Sonia.

The Hurriyat’s partners in this peace mission are the two Kashmir Committees of India and Pakistan led by Ram Jethmalani and Sardar Qayoom Khan respectively.

‘‘We’ve been meeting Ambassadors of various countries in New Delhi and are planning to talk to political parties as well,’’ Hurriyat chairman Prof Abdul Gani Bhat told The Indian Express. ‘‘We will not talk to the Government but would not hesitate to interact with political parties including the BJP leadership.’’

‘‘The Hurriyat delegation will interact with the leadership of other parties as well. And the aim is only to help start a broad-guaged and forward-looking dialogue process,’’ Bhat said. Although the Hurriyat has not officially spelled out its plans vis-a-vis the Centre’s latest Kashmir interlocutor N.N. Vohra, Bhat believes this initiative has been taken on the internal track. ‘‘We want the dialogue to be broad-based. We know that no resolution is possible on the internal track even as we have not decided whether to talk to Vohra or not as yet,’’ he said.

Bhat said the two Kashmir Committees are their partners in the mission. ‘‘It is a joint effort and both the committees are talking simultaneously to push forward this initiative,’’ he said.

Sources revealed that the latest salvo thrown by the Hurriyat has come up after a serious brainstorming and has the blessings of the Pakistani Government as well. ‘‘We knew it was impossible to directly engage all the parties involved in this dispute especially as all our earlier efforts like travelling to Pakistan were disallowed by New Delhi. Now, the two committees will act as a bridge,’’ a Hurriyat leader said.