NEW DELHI, 22 June — India is ready for dialogue with Kashmiri separatists but no preconditions should be attached to any talks, Defense Minister George Fernandes said in Jammu yesterday. He was responding to a call by the All Parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference, the main separatist alliance in Kashmir, for talks with the Indian government on Kashmir and separately with Pakistani-based militants.
"If they (Hurriyat leaders) want dialogue we are ready," Fernandes told journalists in the southern winter capital of Indian Kashmir. However, he added, "there should be no conditions." On Thursday, Fernandes had said the government would "consider" a Hurriyat proposal that Indian troops be sent back to barracks and that its leaders be allowed to visit Pakistan for talks with militants based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The separatist politicians told reporters in Srinagar earlier yesterday they were optimistic New Delhi would allow them to travel to Pakistan. "After Fernandes’ statement we will wait and see how events shape up," said Abdul Gani Bhat, chairman of the alliance. "I am a die-hard optimist," said Bhat, who proposed the visit to Islamabad during a news conference in Kashmir’s summer capital.
"Hurriyat is prepared to contribute to a process that will usher in permanent peace in the region," Bhat told reporters. He said India should see reason and allow the separatist leaders to visit Pakistan-administered Kashmir to open dialogue with the militant leaders. A similar request by the conglomerate two years back was spurned outright by New Delhi when hard-liners, led by senior Hurriyat figure Syed Ali Geelani, said they would in fact not urge militant leaders to call for a cease-fire.
Fernandes also said yesterday that a de-escalation on the border with Pakistan was "a long way off" and accused Islamabad of insincerity in its calls for dialogue, while warning that some 3,000 militants were active in Kashmir. He said that while insurgency levels into Indian Kashmir from Pakistan had dropped, there were still some 3,000 militants already in the territory.
However, India’s security agencies would, he added, take on the rebels "in due course". Fernandes told reporters the rebels had crossed into Indian Kashmir under covering fire "provided by Pakistani troops". He was referring to the heavy artillery duels that have taken place across the Line of Control. "We are not withdrawing troops deployed on the border," Fernandes said. "We will consider de-escalation only when we are satisfied that infiltration has been permanently stopped by the other side."
Echoing his remarks, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said infiltration across the Kashmir border was down but added that Pakistan must take action against alleged rebel camps in its zone of Kashmir.
"There is a lot of action we expect from Pakistan in terms of permanent and visible dismantling of terrorist camps. They have to fulfill the pledges they have made publicly on the ground," she said. Fernandes, who earlier yesterday visited front-line areas in Jammu region, warned that the "border is still volatile".
