‘Manmohan’s offer of talks attempt to distract Kashmiris’

ISLAMABAD - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s offer for discussions, including on autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, is an effort to distract the Kashmiris from their freedom struggle “which is on the verge of success”, an editorial in a Pakistani Urdu daily said Friday.

Referring to the Indian prime minister’s offer made at Tuesday’s meeting in New Delhi with an all-party delegation from Jammu and Kashmir, Nawa-i-Waqt said that if Manmohan Singh was sincere in his promise, then “first he would have announced the withdrawal of Indian armed forces from occupied Kashmir and the ongoing saga of oppression of the Kashmir people would have ended”.

Furthermore, “the Kashmir leaders in jail or under house arrest would have been released and then only the invitation to talks issued”, it said, adding the announcements at the meeting appeared “to have a tinge of hypocrisy” and the “lollipop” of autonomy offered to the Kashmiris “was an attempt to divert them from their goal of freedom”.

However, along with the offer of talks, “the state-sponsored repression of the Kashmiri people and life-taking attacks on protesters” still continue, the editorial said.

“On the one hand, Manmohan Singh…dangles the prospect of autonomy but on the other hand, the tyrannical Indian forces are freely employing bullets and batons on the streets, alleys and markets of occupied Kashmir Valley to spill Kashmiri blood with abandon,” the editorial said.

It said that in the last couple of days, Indian forces had “unleashed another bout of violence, shooting dead two women and an innocent student while senior separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani was once again placed under house arrest despite his declining health.”

“In this climate of repression, who will take seriously, the Indian offer of talks?”

The editorial said the “drama of talks had been done by India for at least 150 times and each time it resulted in India only sabotaging the process”, adding that no headway could be made till the time “India considered Kashmir its inalienable part”.

The editorial also contended the Indian offer of talks was based on its “realisation of its precarious position in the Valley with reportedly the Indian Army chief telling the government that his forces would be unable to hold the area”.

It also noted that both the factions of the separatist Hurriyat Conference had dismissed the Indian prime minister’s call and his announcement of a panel to study and identify employment opportunities for Kashmiri youth, asserting the “Kashmiri youth were fighting for independence not jobs”.