A leading Kashmiri separatist yesterday welcomed comments by India's home minister that New Delhi would allow separatists to visit Pakistan, saying it would "push the peace process forward."
"I welcome the statement," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told reporters in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir. Home Minister Shivraj Patil said at the start of a three-day tour of the troubled region on Saturday that there were no restrictions on anyone travelling to Pakistan.
"If they [separatists] inquire ... through proper methods, we will look into it. There should not be any problem," he said in a departure from previous positions where pleas by separatists for permission to visit Pakistan have been ignored.
"If New Delhi allows us to visit Pakistan ahead of the third round of talks, it will push the peace process forward," said Farooq.
His moderate faction of the region's main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, held two rounds of talks with former Indian deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani earlier this year. Farooq, however, has ruled out talks with India's left-backed Congress government which was elected in May, until separatists are allowed to visit Pakistan.
"We have held two rounds of talks with New Delhi. Now there is a need to talk to the Pakistanis as they are also a party to the dispute," said Farooq, who is also a Muslim cleric.
Farooq and other moderates want to discuss the "road map" they have prepared for solving the Kashmir tangle with Pakistani leaders and Kashmiri militant leaders based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Only Farooq has a passport; other separatists have either been denied travel documents or have had them impounded by the Indian authorities.
They are now likely to apply for fresh documents, a separatist source said. Patil was expected yesterday to visit the Line of Control -- the de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
The Indian army has almost completed fencing a 460km stretch of the Line of Control to prevent the infiltration of Islamic militants from across the Pakistani side of the divide.
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
‘NO AMNESTY’: Tens of thousands of people joined the rally against a bill that would slash the former president’s prison term; President Lula has said he would veto the bill Tens of thousands of Brazilians on Sunday demonstrated against a bill that advanced in Congress this week that would reduce the time former president Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup. Protests took place in the capital, Brasilia, and in other major cities across the nation, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife. On Copacabana’s boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted “No amnesty” and “Out with Hugo Motta,” a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday last week. It is
RSS