Malik seeks statesman Vajpayee's intervention on Kashmir

Srinagar, May 9 (UNI) JKLF chairman Yasin Malik today dashed off a letter to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, urging him to articulate and support a visionary and bold move from his successor Manmohan Singh to take the ongoing Kashmir peace process forward.

Malik also expressed serious concern over the recent statements by some BJP leaders, including former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, on the ongoing peace process and sought Mr Vajpayee's intervention in this regard.

In the letter, Malik hailed Mr Vajpayee as a statesman who had expressed a strong determination to resolve the contentious Kashmir issue during his lifetime.

''I have observed with much distress that you and your other colleagues, through public comments, have started adopting a changed approach toward the peace process on Kashmir. I refer here to the letters that you and Mr Advani had recently written to the Prime Minister raising doubts and expressing disapproval,'' he said.

''We have observed Mr Jaswant Singh's vitriolic disruption in the Rajya Sabha yesterday calling in to question Dr Singh's moves on the peace process and raising alarms about its direction,'' Malik said.

''My worry regarding the approach adopted by your party is that at a time when visionary and courageous steps are lacking from the present government in Delhi to further the peace process, the BJP's behavior may further curtail or decrease the possibility of such a necessary move to ensure that the peace process leads to a just resolution of the Kashmir issue,'' he said in the letter.

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