Foreign militants not power hungry: Shabir Shah

By Shujaat Bukhari

JAMMU, DEC. 13. The leader of the Democratic Freedom Party, Mr. Shabir Shah, hopes that the foreign militants will withdraw from the ``battle field,'' if the Government of India shuns its ``rigid attitude'' towards the Kashmir issue and takes ``concrete steps'' for resolving it. He maintained that the local militants had to be taken into confidence for finding a permanent solution to the issue.

Mr. Shah returned to Srinagar after his 15-day sojourn in New Delhi where he met the Ambassadors of 35 countries and over 100 ``great personalities'' of the country. ``The guest militants are not power hungry and do not eye chief ministership or any other post. They have come to support us at a crucial time as they found we are oppressed and our cause is just,'' he told The Hindu over phone from Srinagar.

However, he said if the Government of India shuns its rigidity, ``we can appeal to them to leave and ``I am hopeful that they will withdraw.'' Mr. Shah said the local militants could not be ignored in finding a negotiated settlement to the Kashmir issue. ``It is only because these youth embraced the gun we stand somewhere. When the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen announced the ceasefire, I did not object to the Government of India holding talks with them,'' he said.

Stressing upon the Government of India to create an atmosphere for the dialogue to take off, Mr. Shah said ``I have wholeheartedly welcomed the ceasefire, but it should not be confined to Ramzan only. Efforts should be made so that it turns out to be permanent.''

`Release prisoners'

While maintaining that prisoners should be released and an atmosphere of mutual confidence given a chance, Mr. Shah said ``we do not say that the Army should be withdrawn but we say that it should go back to the barracks.'' Some miscreants do not want to see that the ceasefire initiative is a success and they needed to be checked.

Mr. Shah said that besides entering into a dialogue with the Kashmiri leaders, the Government of India should simultaneously resume talks with Pakistan. ``It has been accepted by India for the umpteenth time that it was a party to the dispute by going through the Tashkent and Shimla agreements and the talks at other levels.'' On the Hurriyat Conference seeking permission for travelling to Pakistan to hold talks with the Pakistan Government and militants there, he said ``I had put forth this suggestions five years back when I was in the Hurriyat. This is a good thing and let them (Hurriyat) talk to Pakistan''.

Mr. Shah, who was expelled from the Hurriyat for meeting the then U.S. Ambassador to India, Mr. Frank Wisner, and the former Prime Minister, Mr. V.P. Singh, has no objection if the Government of India talks to the Hurriyat only.

``If they are able to represent the aspirations of the people in the right perspective, I have no objection. But nothing can be allowed at the cost of the movement''.

Mr. Shah said he met diplomats from 35 countries during his recent visit to Delhi besides former Prime Ministers and the Members of Parliament from the Congress, BJP, Shiv Sena and CPI and the CPI(M). ``I impressed upon them the need for a negotiated settlement of the issue by taking Pakistan into confidence.

The response was encouraging and they agreed for a groundwork for trilateral negotiations. If the ceasefire is not extended beyond Ramzan and efforts are not made to make it meaningful, it will be an exercise in futility,'' he said.

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