India must repeal harsh detention laws, release hundreds of political prisoners and withdraw hundreds of thousands of army soldiers from the region before any dialogue, said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chairman of the moderate faction of All-Parties Hurriyat Conference.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday the government was prepared to talk to any group opposed to terrorism and violence in the region. Similar initiatives in the past failed to make any headway.
Singh returned to New Delhi on Tuesday after spending two days in Indian-controlled Kashmir reviewing development work and the security situation. The separatists called a general strike to protest the visit.
The Farooq-led group had held three rounds of direct talks with the Indian government in 2004 and 2005. However, the dialogue broke down after the separatists demanded their inclusion in the India-Pakistan talks on settling the Kashmir dispute.
“Hurriyat Conference is not an armed resistance group and the government of India cannot talk to us in ambiguous and uncertain terms,” he said.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but is claimed in its entirety by the two nuclear-armed neighbors who have fought two wars over control of the Himalayan territory.
Nearly a dozen rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan.
More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown.
