'Kashmir peace must be given right direction'

Rawalpindi, May 23: A leading Kashmiri intellectual has called for giving a ''right direction'' to the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan.

Dawn newspaper quoted visiting executive director of Washington-based Kashmiri American Council, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai as saying that ''genuine'' Kashmiri leadership should be involved in the process.

''When you talk of resolving the Kashmir dispute, you cannot ignore the basic party to the issue,'' he told reporters.

He said the Kashmir problem can be resolved within the next five to seven years if the peace process was allowed to be moved in the right direction.

Dr Fai said though tension had subsided following the resumption of the dialogue process between the two countries, more steps were needed.

He said ''genuine negotiations'' had not yet been held by Pakistan and India to arrive at a just and lasting solution. ''Both are holding parleys which turn out to be more a matter of pretence than substance,'' he remarked.

Pointing out that the army concentration in Kashmir was the largest in the world in terms of the numerical strength of the troops vis-a-vis the total population of Kashmir, he said India should give relief to the people of Kashmir if it wanted tangible progress on the peace process.

''The blatant human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir must stop if the intention is to carry forward the peace process.

Otherwise, the process will not take off,'' he stressed.

Dr Fai said the world had started realising that status quo was not the option and the Kashmir tangle had to be resolved.

UNI

Related Stories

Schedule for India-Pakistan talks announced
News In Focus: Kashmir Burning>