DG BSF, Pak Rangers chief meet will reduce tension: Hurriyat Conference

Srinagar: Moderate Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Thursday welcomed the meeting oDirector General BSF with Pakistan Rangers chief, and said that the talk would reduce tension along the borders in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We welcome the meeting of DG Pakistan rangers with his Indian BSF counterpart under extreme tension on the borders, and express our wish that this meeting will help in alleviating tension on the borders," Hurriyat said in a statement after an executive meeting here.

The meeting, chaired by Mirwaiz at his Nigeen residence, took a detailed view of the ongoing political situation in the state and called for "bold and concrete steps" towards solving the decades old Kashmir dispute.

"The participants felt that tension in the whole region has considerably increased due to instability and uncertainty which is a direct consequence of letting the Kashmir issue hang fire and not resolving it.

"The participants observed that it is this escalation in tension between the two countries that has made the international community, especially the UN and the US, realize the urgency of resolving the Kashmir dispute at the earliest, and today they are more actively advocating its resolution in order to evade the clouds of war hovering in the region," the Hurriyat said.

The Hurriyat said the situation between the neighbours can take a "dangerous turn" anytime due to the lingering Kashmir dispute.

"As such it becomes imperative that the leadership of both the countries show political courage and willingness to take bold and concrete steps towards solving the decades old Kashmir dispute, which is affecting the whole region," the separatist amalgam said.

Advocating for resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue and involvement of Kashmiris as a primary party, the Hurriyat said it has been the long held stand of conglomerate that talks between the two countries is the way forward towards finding the solution to the vexed Kashmir issue and other outstanding issues between the two neighbors.

The Hurriyat said it would always support any process between the two countries which aims at solving the Kashmir dispute keeping in view the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris and as such they are its primary stakeholders and this position will never be compromised. Any dialogue aimed to resolve Kashmir dispute would be meaningless without their inclusion and as such their participation was mandatory in any dialogue process to bear results," the Hurriyat added.