Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (file photo)
Srinagar: A day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh revealed that the Central government had attempted to engage with separatists in 2016, Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Monday emphasized that the Hurriyat Conference has consistently advocated dialogue as the only way to address the political aspirations and sentiments of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh was quoted as having said while addressing a poll rally in Ramban district of Jammu, that when he was the Home Minister of India and the PDP-BJP government was in office in Jammu and Kashmir (in 2016 during the three month long agitation triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani) a four member delegation led by him tried to reach out to separatists- as part of Centre’s outreach for peace talks.
“After asking me, Sharad Yadav (of the JDU) and some Left leaders visited the Hurriyat Conference leaders, but they shut their doors on them, saying they will not talk with senior MPs of our country,’’ the Defence Minister was quoted as having said at the rally.
This is the first time that a senior minister in the Narenadra Modi government publicly acknowledged that it tried to reach out to Hurriyat.
Responding to the Defence Minister's statement, Hurriyat conference chief Mirwaiz said that in September 2016 he was detained at the Chesmashshi sub jail when a letter was handed over to him by the jail authorities from Mehbooba Mufti in her capacity as president of PDP and not as the Chief Minister, requesting him to meet with a visiting delegation of Opposition MPs and talk to them.
Mirwaiz said that after this All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) head Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of the visiting opposition delegation, came to see him in the sub jail .
During the meeting Owaisi told Mirwaiz that a delegation of MPs wants to meet the Hurriyat leadership regarding the grim situation.
“Mirwaiz requested Owaisi to ask the Government to stop the killings and allow the Hurriyat leadership lodged in different jails and under house arrests to meet with each other and discuss the situation among themselves first before they decide if they can collectively talk to the delegation and figure out if the opposition MPs can help in some serious attempt at long term engagement , or if it is just another attempt at crisis management which will be dumped once the crisis is over as past experiences have shown,” a spokesman of the Hurriyat said.
“ Mr Owaisi agreed to it and said that he will convey this request to the government and left . After that nothing was heard of it,” the statement added.
Hurriyat said it is also surprised to know for the first time that this was an initiative at the behest of the Government of India .
The spokesman said the fact is that under the leadership of Mirwaiz, it has always strongly and repeatedly advocated engagement and dialogue with the political aspirations and sentiments of the people of J&K as a means of resolution.
Mirwaiz said that right from the time of its engagement with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani to Manmohan Singh it has participated in every opportunity that was made available by the Government of India .
“Even at its own peril and despite the huge personal costs borne by the Mirwaiz and other Hurriyat leaders and their families for such engagements it never shied away from them, as it firmly believes that this is the only way to ensure peace and stability in J&K and the region and prosperity for the people and not for any personal profit or power for Hurriyat,” the spokesman said.
The statement said even after the drastic unilateral changes in 2019 and the prolonged house detention of Mirwaiz till September 2023, Mirwaiz has been repeating his advocacy of talks on every occasion made available to him during his off and on house arrests but to no avail.