Srinagar: Controversial Independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rasheed, who has pro-separatist leanings, met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday and said the only way to resolve Kashmir issue is to hold "plebiscite" on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC).
Rasheed, who led a five-member party delegation of his Awami Ittihad Party which met the Home Minister, said the government of India needs to understand that passing the buck and avoiding the resolution is the only reason why Jammu and Kashmir is "bleeding" since 1947, a spokesman of the party said in a statement.
The MLA claimed that seeking "right to self-determination" does not violate Constitution of India and also does not amount to separatism, the spokesman said.
The delegation narrated how the successive governments broke their promises from time to time and played blamegame, the spokesman said.
"When we talk of resolving Jammu and Kashmir dispute, we never say so on communal lines but believe that people of both parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh should be given right to self-determination and issue needs to be seen in totality and not on regional, religious or ethnic basis," he said.
The spokesman said Rasheed reminded Singh that it was in the same Nehru Guest House, where the Home Minister was meeting various deputations, that the Centre held talks with five militant commanders.
"So, Union of India has no logic to justify not talking to real representatives including militants for the resolution of the dispute," Rasheed said.
