World recognizes need to resolve Kashmir: Mirwaiz

Srinagar: Chairman Hurriyat Conference (M), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Friday said the international community had realized the importance of resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and that during his six-week-long foreign tour international audiences were “very receptive to the talk of resolving this sixty-three year old issue.” Mirwaiz, who returned yesterday from a six-week long trip to the UK, US and Geneva, while  addressing a Friday gathering at the historic Jamia Masjid said the whole world was aware of the Kashmir dispute now and, unlike the past “we do not need to repeat the history behind this issue.” “The world has shrunk; it has become a global village. Today, people know as much as about Kashmir as they know about international issues like Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq and the latest crises in Middle East. They know what the Kashmir issue is about, what is happening here, and that the movement of Kashmiris is indigenous and not sponsored. And this is all because of the peaceful mass movement of Kashmiris since 2008. Now India cannot fool the world with its false propaganda of Kashmiris movement being a violent one, imaging the Israeli foreign minister underlining the need to resolve the Kashmir issue,” he said.  “During my address to seminars and interactions at international forums in these six weeks, the audiences were very receptive whenever I raised the issue  of Kashmir. I think the world has realized that resolving Kashmir is as important for peace and development in Indo-Pak subcontinent as resolving Palestine for peace in the Middle East.Mirwaiz said just as people in Libya, Egypt, Bahrain were taking on mighty authoritative regimes and fighting for their rights, Kashmiris had been struggling for their right to self determination for over six decades.   “These crises have a bearing on Kashmir, these are issues of people’s will and aspiration, and time has proved that people’s voice cannot be muzzled by force and military might,” he said as per a Press Bureau of India correspondent.Lashing out at New Delhi and the “rubber-stamp” state government, Mirwaiz said both were trying to turn the peaceful movement into a violent one by pushing Kashmiris to the wall through arbitrary arrests, torture and clampdown on political activities.“Thousands of people have been arrested, most of them students,   under draconian Public Safety Act and implicated in false cases. The Army and police is  giving political comments  like whether AFPSA should stay or not. But India should realize that force cannot the muzzle the voice of Kashmiris nor can economic packages,” he said.Mirwaiz “advised” New Delhi to start a “sincere and serious” dialogue process with the people of Kashmir, Pakistan to resolve the issue and act of the amalgam’s proposals for creating a conducive atmosphere.