K-issue has to be resolved by people living in the region: EU

Srinagar: The European Union Friday rejected any role in resolution of Kashmir insisting that it has to be resolved by people living in the region.
“What is happening in this part of the country has to be solved by the people who are living in the region,” Ms. Daniele Smadja, Ambassador of the European Union to India, told reporters after meeting a five-member delegation led by her met Opposition PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti here.
“We are not here for anything but information,” she said as per city correspondent.
Earlier, the delegation, currently on a visit to Kashmir, called on Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,  at their residences.
During the one-and- a- half hour long meeting, Mirwaiz apprised the delegation—comprising EU Ambassador to India Daniele Smadja, Irish Ambassador Kenneth Thompson, Belgian Ambassador Pierre Vaesan, EU delegation’s First Secretary Philipp Gross and delegation attache Anne Vaugier-Chatterjee— about the “gross human rights violations and random arrests ” in Kashmir.
“Mirwaiz urged the European Union to use its influence so that a solution can be found to the Kashmir issue through a meaningful and comprehensive dialogue process, which is in accordance with the wishes and aspirations  of Kashmiris and also acceptable to the people of India and Pakistan,” a spokesman of the amalgam said.
“Mirwaiz said this was the only way to establish permanent peace and stability and start a new era of prosperity and development in south Asia,” the spokesman added.
Senior Hurriyat (M) leaders, Professor Abdul Ghani Bhat and Bilal Gani Lone, were also present during the meeting.
In his meeting with the delegation, JKLF chief, Mohammad Yasin Malik, said Kashmiris had made transition from violent to non-violence since 2008 and the international community was morally bound to play a role in resolving the Kashmir conflict, which, he said, had consumed four generations of Kashmir and also led to several wars between India and Pakistan.
“Kashmir’s land, which comprises one-third of the total geographical area, has the largest military concentration in the world. The army, already occupying crores of kanals of land, is now expanding its camps and barracks in Kashmir. It seems that in future there will be no land left for Kashmiris and, therefore, it becomes necessary to put an immediate end to this trend,” he said, according to a statement issued here.
Malik said the EU enjoying friendly relations with both India and Pakistan should use its influence and ask both the countries to shun the “cosmetic” approach of the past and initiate a sincere dialogue to resolve the issue.
“The international community and India and Pakistan need to realize that Kashmir is not a border dispute between the two countries but an issue of the wishes and aspirations of millions of people,” he said.