M A I N   N E W S

Vohra in Srinagar for talks
Hurriyat, DFP open to dialogue
Tribune Reporters

Srinagar, April 21
Mr N.N. Vohra, representative of the Government of India arrived here today on a week-long visit to meet leaders of various political parties represented in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature.

The Kashmir visit, the first after his appointment as the chief negotiator in February, would concentrate on suggestions, interactions and meetings with all organisations and individuals desirous of participating in the dialogue process. Mr Vohra had earlier visited Jammu and had talks with the Governor, Mr G.C. Saxena, and the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has welcomed the move and hoped that there would be a breakthrough. He told TNS here that there was no other alternative to the problem. He said the previous such move when the Centre had nominated Mr K.C. Pant as the interlocutor on Kashmir was different.

The Mufti said Mr Vohra would talk to all sections of the people, even as there was no response from the Hurriyat Conference as yet. “It is necessary that he (Mr Vohra) talks to the Hurriyat Conference, but at the same time it does not mean that he will not talk to us or the elected representatives”, the Mufti commented. He added that the view point of all mainstream political parties was also important.

During his week-long stay in the valley, Mr Vohra is scheduled to meet leaders of the National Conference, including former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and party president and former Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Omar Abdullah. He will also meet the state secretary of the CPM and MLA, Mr Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami.

JAMMU: Separatists in the Kashmir valley, including the APHC and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), are said to be under pressure from foreign diplomats for accepting the offer for talks from Mr Vohra.

The DFP chief, Mr Shabir Ahmed Shah, seems to have shed his initial opposition to talks with Mr Vohra. He now says that if he is invited formally, he would not have any hesitation in meeting Mr Vohra, he told TNS recently.

Similarly, the APHC leadership was initially unwilling to interact with Mr Vohra. But some Hurriyat leaders now seem to have given up their rigid stand.

When a senior APHC leader, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, was asked whether the 23-party conglomerate would meet Mr Vohra he said, “We have not received any invitations”, adding that the Executive Committee would meet in Srinagar on Thursday to take the final decision.

This indicates that the separatists have received some guidelines not only from agencies across the border but also from foreign mission in Delhi, advising them to have a session or two with Mr Vohra.

The APHC leaders had boycotted Mr K.C. Pant but had held a series of sessions with the Kashmir Committee members in Srinagar and Delhi.

Meanwhile, the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir has urged Mr N.H. Vohra not to talk to any organisation perpetuating terrorism and not recognising the Constitution of India.

He said it was not the valley but Jammu, Ladakh and the Nationalist Kashmiri Hindus, Sikhs, Shia Muslims and Gujjars and Bakkarwals who stood totally alienated from the sectarian leadership of the Kashmir which controls all political and religious organisations, including the PDP, Congress, National Conference, CPM, CPI, Hurriyat Conference, Peoples Conference and JKLF.