SRINAGAR, 14 July 2003 — The newly-elected chairman of Kashmir’s main separatist alliance yesterday said he was against US mediation between India and Pakistan to resolve their dispute over the Himalayan region, as police arrested two senior separatist leaders, Shabir Ahmad Shah, chairman of Democratic Freedom Party, and Javed Ahmad Mir, JKLF vice president, while trying to march to the martyr’s graveyard here.
“I am dead against mediation by the United States between India and Pakistan in getting the issue of Kashmir resolved,” Moulvi Abbas Ansari told AFP here.
Ansari, the 65-year-old head of the Ithadul Muslimeen separatist group, on Saturday became the first Shiite Muslim to lead the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a collection of two dozen parties opposed to Indian rule.
Previous Hurriyat leaders have urged for US mediation, but Ansari said it would show India and Pakistan were “impotent” and unable to resolve issues. “And if the US gives a road map to resolve the Kashmir issue it will not be good for India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir,” he added.
If the United States did succeed in resolving Kashmir, it would always be able to boast of “doing a great favor to all three parties.”
Ansari said India, Pakistan and Kashmiris could resolve the issue without the help of outsiders. “I am very much optimistic if we ... India, Pakistan and Kashmiris sit to discuss the issue, we will definitely negotiate a solution,” he said. “Even if the US intervenes we will have to sit and talk. So let’s do it ourselves,” he said.
Pakistan is keen for the United States to act as a mediator with India over Kashmir. But New Delhi insists it is a bilateral issue and there is “no room for a third party” at the negotiating table.
Ansari said the Hurriyat would talk to the Indian government if invited to do so by the Indian premier. “We will talk to Vajpayee if he invites us,” said Ansari. “We believe in highest-level dialogue.” Earlier this year India appointed a new point man on Kashmir, N. N. Vohra, but no separatist has agreed to talk to him.
Meanwhile, police detained 26 people, including the two senior separatists, for staging a march to mourn 21 Kashmiris slain 72 years ago by a Hindu king, witnesses said. On July 13, 1931, the 21 Kashmiris protesting the Maharaja Hari Singh’s autocratic rule were killed by his army outside the central jail here. Shah and Mir were detained along with the others, including female separatist Farida Behanji, and taken to the Rajbagh police station.
At around the same time, a tight security cordon cloaked Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed as he entered the graveyard to pay tribute to “great martyrs who laid down their lives to see a democratic, secular, peaceful and prosperous Kashmir.”
Mufti’s government has also ordered a halt to the roadside frisking of people in Kashmir. “On my firm instructions, frequent frisking of the people on roads has been stopped,” he said, adding “and Jawahar tunnel on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway kept open till midnight to facilitate movement of the people.
