ANANTNAG, India, Oct 28 — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached out to Kashmiri separatists today, offering to resume peace talks to end a decades-old insurgency in the Himalayan region.
Singh’s offer comes at a time when New Delhi continues to drag its feet over holding talks with Pakistan, which lays claim to Kashmir, saying that it must first crack down on militants behind the November attacks in Mumbai.
“I wish to say again today that we are willing to talk to anyone who has any meaningful ideas for promoting peace and development in Kashmir,” Singh told a public rally before inaugurating a railway line in south Kashmir.
Kashmir’s moderate and main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, has urged New Delhi to pull out troops, release prisoners and end human rights violations before resuming peace talks.
Dialogue between the government and the separatists broke down in 2006.
“We want to carry all sections of the people with us in resolving the political and economic problems of Jammu and Kashmir,” Singh said.
The Indian leader is on a two-day trip to the Kashmir valley, the main focus of the insurgency. Most shops and businesses closed in a strike called by hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, to protest the visit.
The Hurriyat began a dialogue with New Delhi in 2004, the first since a full blown insurgency erupted in 1989. Officials say more than 47,000 have been killed in the past twenty years in Kashmir, where anti-India sentiment still runs deep.
“I appeal to the youth of Kashmir to join in building a new Kashmir. I understand their frustration,” Singh said.
The Indian leader also again urged Pakistan, which like India claims Kashmir in full and is seen as key to resolving the dispute, to crack down on militants.
India suspended a 2004 peace process with its neighbour after the Mumbai attacks last year, which it blamed on Pakistan-based militants it said were supported by some official agencies. Islamabad denied official involvement. — Reuters
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