India should make suitable environment for addressing Kashmir issue: Shabir Shah

SRINAGAR - Senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah on Wednesday said the Indian Government needs to create a suitable atmosphere before addressing the Kashmir issue.

Addressing a news conference here, Shah said they are ready for ‘meaningful’ and ‘result-oriented’ talks.

“When Kashmir has been declared an issue by Prime Minister of India in Parliament, then they should create suitable environment for talks. We are ready for talks but talks should be meaningful and result-oriented. So before holding dialogue, government should create suitable environment so that people of Kashmir would believe that Government of India is serious about the Kashmir issue,” said Shah.

He said the Kashmir Valley’s condition is not conducive for holding talks with the interlocutors appointed by the Indian Government, and termed it a ‘futile exercise’.

Shah clarified that separatists are not against dialogue, and welcomed both India and Pakistan to discuss the issue with them.

“We believe that dialogue is the only way to restore peace. Durable peace can only be achieved in South Asia if this core issue is addressed. We believe that in order to hold fruitful dialogue, it is necessary for both India and Pakistan to discuss the issue with the separatists. God willing, this would happen in the near future,” he said.

The three-member panel comprising Dileep Padgaonkar, M M Ansari and Prof Radha Kumar have extended several invitations to the separatist groups to join the talks but up till now all of them stand futile as Miwaiz Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani are demanding to implement their five point agenda first. By Fayaz Ahmad(ANI)