The chairman of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, met Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Sunday to understand Islamabad’s stand at the recent Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan, besides informing him of the “ground situation” in the State.
After reaching Delhi, the Mirwaiz, who is leading a team of seven members to participate in the Pakistan Day celebrations on Monday, said: “It is important that you understand, if we have to end violence, Kashmir cannot have a military solution. It cannot have a solution through violence.”
“But we also need to have a parallel political process so that we can move forward towards this resolution. The Hurriyat primarily believes that Kashmir is a political problem, it is not a problem of good or bad governance. It is not a territorial dispute, it is not a regional dispute. It’s an issue about the people. Let there be some movement forward, let some political initiative be taken. We are ready to support that process, both vis-a-vis New Delhi and through Islamabad,” he said.
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The Mirwaiz later met Mr. Basit for a one-to-one meeting at the residence of the High Commissioner where the latter told him about the stand taken by Islamabad during the talks held between Foreign Secretary S. Jaishanker and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry.
Before going for the meeting with the Pakstani High Commissioner, the Mirwaiz said his group was always in favour of finding a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue and act “as a bridge” between the two countries for building and consolidating peace in the subcontinent.