NEW DELHI, 21 September 2005 — Urging Kashmiris of the subcontinent to put behind the bitterness of the past five decades, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah yesterday reiterated his call for “soft borders”.
“A simple, solid solution to the Kashmir problem is soft borders between the two countries,” Farooq said. He made this comment at a daylong “Heart to Heart” conference held in the capital city.
Bhim Singh, Panthers Party chief and convener, coordination committee of the J&K Leaders and Intellectuals, and the Indian Council of World Affairs, organized the seminar.
The talks held yesterday were the continuation of the first leg of the meeting held in Jammu, the winter capital of India-controlled Kashmir on Sept. 16-17.
New Delhi was selected as the venue of the second leg after several Muslim Conference leaders objected to traveling to Jammu on Indian visas.
As is evident, though differences over ticklish issues such as the nature of passport and visa are bound to prevail for quite some time, a beginning has been made to at least giving Kashmiris a chance to have their say in the Indo-Pak peace process. This is being viewed as a constructive move.
Among those who participated in the conference apart from Farooq Abdullah were Hurriyat leaders Abdul Gani Bhatt and People’s Conference Chief Sajjad Lone. IN addition to intellectuals and activists, Pakistan-administered Kashmir was represented by Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, chief of Pakistani Kashmir’s ruling Muslim Conference, Pir Atiqur Rehman, a legislator of the Muslim Conference, Hafiz Hamid Raza, a minister, and Raja Farooq Haider, minister and adviser to the prime minister of Pakistani Kashmir.
