Srinagar: Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) said on Wednesday that talks on the Kashmir imbroglio could not bear any fruit unless separatist Hurriyat Conference and Pakistan are also taken on board.
The party’s vice president Muhammad Sartaj Madani while reacting to recent statements of the local and central leaderships of ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that he was dismayed over their assertion that both the separatists and Pakistan will be isolated. He said the very idea of closing the doors of reconciliation and understanding on vital political issues undermines the process of peace which does not serve the peoples’ interest.
He also said that several “unwarranted postures” have contributed to trust deficit and alienation in Kashmir which in turn led to confrontation and acrimony at various levels. “How will unnecessary debate on most sensitive issues help the State”, he asked. He referred to ‘Agenda of the Alliance’ between the PDP and BJP and said that it also envisaged “an agenda of hope and promise to reach out to everyone including separatists and Pakistan”. He cautioned that neither side could afford a volt-face on this.
The BJP’s J&K unit president Sat Sharma had said on Tuesday that “isolating” the Hurriyat leaders by not holding any talks with them is a decision “taken at the highest level in New Delhi” and that “only mainstream leaders will be entertained by the Centre.” Replying queries from reporters, he said, “Yes, we have taken a decision that there can be no talks with those who don’t accept the Indian Constitution. The decision in this regard has been taken at the highest level in the party high command and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is privy to it”. He added that the BJP’s central leadership will talk only to those “who accept the Indian constitution.”
