Srinagar, Publish Date: Nov, 3, 2017
The Kashmir civil society on Friday said that the terms of reference for the proposed dialogue to be facilitated by nominating Government of India’s representative Dineshwar Sharma have not been specified.
“We the members of Kashmir civil society have witnessed with distress hindrances to the process of resolution of Kashmir dispute sought to be facilitated by nominating Mr. Dineshwar Sharma as a representative of Government of India,” Joint Civil Society statement said.
“Unfortunately the terms of reference for the proposed dialogue have not been specified,” they said, in the statement.
The members said that Kashmir issue needs to be addressed seriously.
“Needless to state that it is of paramount importance to address the issue seriously without using subterfuges of ‘restoration of peace’ and ‘de-radicalization of youth’, which are in fact, concomitant to the resolution of the dispute,” they said.
The statement has 22 signatories having different and varied professional background.
“The issue needs to be dealt with frontally in its historical perspective. The dialogue must take place among the three principal parties viz India, Pakistan and the Joint Resistance Leadership of Kashmir. That alone can yield desired results,” they said.
The Kashmir civil society, the statement added, is relieved to know that all the three parties have publicly stated that the final settlement of the dispute could be arrived at through meaningful, resulted-oriented and time-bound negotiations.
“In this backdrop, the concerns expressed by Joint Resistance Leadership must be addressed immediately by the Indian government to set in motion the process of resolution.”
“The engagement of the nominated representative of Government of India with anyone else other than Joint Resistance Leadership will be a futile exercise,” it added.
