Announce ceasefire in JK: CPM to India, militants

Srinagar, Sep 23: Urging for immediate bilateral ceasefire in the Jammu and Kashmir, the Communist Party of India (M) said that contending parties should not wait for a ceasefire offer to come from the other side.

The CPI also appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to facilitate the return of Kashmiri youths who had gone to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and now wanted to return to their country.

Mohd Yusuf Tarigami, however, maintained that the contending parties should not wait for a ceasefire offer to come from the other side, let them declare the cessation of hostilities as that will be seen by the people of the state, the real sufferers in the conflict, as a positive move towards achieving peace.

Indirectly referring to four demands put by the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) for considering the ceasefire, he asserted that the other side too could not put conditions, the legitimate demands could be discussed once dialogues start between the contending forces.

We have experienced a lasting ceasefire LoC which needs to be extended throughout the state for bringing a permanent peace in the state.

Mr Tarigami urged upon the prime Minister of India to fulfill his commitment of facilitating the return of those Kashmiri youth who had gone to the other side of LoC and want to return to their home and hearth to live peacefully.

The Prime Minister should take up the issue of such youths with the Government of Pakistan in order to device a mechanism for their return, Tarigami said and asserted that Dr Manmohan Singh was accountable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as he had made a commitment to this effect in May this year during the second roundtable conference at Srinagar.

Taking a dig at the fragmented political leadership in the state, Mr Tarigami said that if India and Pakistan can open a dialogue over contentious issues after fighting gory wars, why the infra-state leadership cannot come on a table brushing aside the differences in the larger interest of the people of the state.

''It is time for the state leadership not to exploit the complexities of Kashmir to serve their narrow political ends', he said.

UNI

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