India will pull back troops from Kashmir if militant infiltration and violence ends, the Indian Prime Minister’s office announced Monday evening after a meeting with Kashmiri separatists.
The meeting, between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a coalition of moderate separatists from Kashmir, came barely a week before the leaders of India and Pakistan are scheduled to meet during a United Nations General Assembly session in New York. Pakistan has expressed growing frustration with what it calls New Delhi’s reluctance to tackle the problem of Kashmir. The Hurriyat leaders recently met with President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan.
In the statement, the prime minister’s office said it would also review the cases of all those held under special preventive detention in Kashmir and take steps to “safeguard against human rights violations.”
“The prime minister said that if there is a cessation of violence and an end to infiltration, conditions will be created for the reduction of armed forces,” the statement read. “It was agreed that the only way forward is to ensure that all forms of violence at all levels should come to an end.”
In an interview with the private New Delhi television station NDTV, the leader of the separatist coalition, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, heralded the talks as the start of a credible conversation. “For first time, there seems to be a realization in Delhi that we need to have a solution in Kashmir, an honourable solution,” he said. “It was definitely a very good beginning.”
source: NYT
Comments
India has been serious for a settlement on Kashmir ever since A K Gujaral .At SARC Regional Conferences India poured Kashmir onto Pakistanis like a Raja himself could . The Kashmiris are politically united population which is one important factor for a state to function strong and democratically. In recent visit to Pakistan the Hurriyet Leaders alongwith JKLF reps were sober and comfortable with both countries. Kashmir is most expensive comptractor of Intrnational Trade with worlds most delicate and vip products . Presently Qatar and China are as good gauranteers for Kashmiris to reach freedom and self soveriegnity conclude thier partnership and status into Pakistan themselves . Allah O Alakber .