Srinagar: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Professor Saifuddin Soz on Monday pitched for a “political dialogue” with the separatists. He said India should stop the use of force in Kashmir without any further delay. In a statement issued here on Monday, Prof Soz said, “It (use of force) can never ever produce positive results”.
Prof Soz maintained that Governor Satya Pal Malik had announced that he would open a dialogue with all the stakeholders and sort out all the matters of public importance. But, unfortunately, that has not happened so far.
Prof Soz said it is not safe for the Union of India to describe the angry youth of Kashmir as “terrorists.” He claimed, “India’s Civil Society and the International Community would not accept the broad term of terrorists for the youth involved in the strife in Kashmir, with or without arms.” He asserted that Army commanders have also unanimously strongly proposed ‘political dialogue’ as an effective instrument to end the turmoil in Kashmir.
Prof described Joint Resistance Leadership in Kashmir, comprising top-ranked separatist leaders such as Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, as a “Nucleus of Boon” and said, “India would be well-advised to initiate a decisive dialogue with them without losing any further time.”