With just four days to go for the second round table in Srinagar between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and leaders of various political outfits in Jammu and Kashmir, including the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), leaders from Pakistan's impoverished Gilgit and Baltistan region on Saturday categorically rejected the Hurriyat as the key representative of Kashmiri aspirations and self-determination.

Addressing an hour-and-half long press conference at Maurya Sheraton Hotel in New Delhi, prominent Gilgit leaders like Shafqat Inqalabi, Mirza Wajahat Hussain, Haji Gandal Shah and Nazir Gilani, to name a few, said over the last 58 years, since the partition of the Indian subcontinent, no Kashmiri had designated the Hurriyat or any other socio-political entity in the region as their representative for self-determination rights.

"Neither we, nor the Hurriyat are elected by the common people. So, how can we claim to be their representative," said Mirza Wajahat Hussain, president of the Gilgit-Baltistan Thinker Forum (GBTF)

The 29 leaders, who attended the two-day international conference titled Jammu and Kashmir: Alternative Futures at the Heritage Village Resort in Manesar, Haryana, further went on to call for an end to their continued isolation, regional exclusion and the ongoing "ghettoisation" of Gilgit-Baltistan residents by the Pakistan armed forces and intelligence.

Recognising the growing interdependencies of the modern world, the leaders demanded that "The future of Jammu and Kashmir must be envisaged within the economic, social and political imperatives of integration, while recognising the primacy of and safeguarding the diverse and plural aspects of the identities of the people of Jammu and Kashmir."

They said that the aspirations of the people of Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan could not be met by a "mere political redistribution of power between regional or factional elites," but required the "establishment of clear mechanisms that ensure access to developmental opportunities and safeguarding of economic and natural resources for the benefit of the people of the region".

"The aspirations of the various constituent communities and peoples of Jammu and Kashmir, including Gilgit-Baltistan must be met within their traditional homelands," they said, adding that no community should be "forcibly evicted, displaced or artificially reduced to a minority through violence or experiments in demographic re-engineering."

Commenting on India's role in the past and in the present, Hussain said: "India is also responsible for our plight, because the focus has always remained on the issues of the valley (Kashmir Valley). It is also wrong on the part of the Pakistan Government that they give a red carpet welcome to these unelected `Hurriyat' leaders."

All the leaders were of the unanimous view that till a final resolution of the status of Jammu and Kashmir was not reached, an effort should be made to establish a "legislative, constitutional and judicial structure that guarantees the rights of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan". This, they said, "should be statutorily enshrined and enforced."

In their three-page final resolution, the Kashmiri and Gilgit leaders also called on the Indian Government to "provide openings in higher professional and technical education institutions to deserving students from Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir," who at present were being denied this necessary facility. — ANI 

New York, May 20
The United States and Europe are divided over negotiations with Iran, with the Bush administration resisting a new European offer that includes a proposal for a West Asia security “framework” for Iran if it gives up its nuclear activities, The New York Times today reported.

Citing diplomats from each side as well as other officials, all of whom requested anonymity, the Times reported that the Bush administration was also resisting the idea of protecting European companies from punishment by Washington if they did business with Iran, an idea put forth in the European proposal, the Times said.

The newspaper said the disagreements in the negotiations are clouding the possibility of a deal with Iran on its nuclear program at a time when tensions are increasing over Tehran’s inflexibility.

The diplomats also told the newspaper that Europe, the United States and Russia have not agreed on the need to impose sanctions on Iran if it continues its defiance.

Both US and European officials told the Times that the European proposals for dealing with Iran were transmitted to the United States on Thursday, and the newspaper said the proposals were being studied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others.

“The US has received a European proposal but has not yet responded to it,” the Times quoted a senior administration official as saying before adding that the American answer would be conveyed on Wednesday at a meeting of senior envoys in London. Also slated for discussion are sanctions if Iran continues activities believed to be part of a weapons program.

The envoys were meant to have met yesterday to discuss the European ideas but disagreements on the details were said to have postponed the session until next week, the Times said. Some European officials predicted that talks may continue into the summer.

The Times said Bush administration hard-liner are also not eager for any kind of security guarantees for Iran, including talk of a Middle East “regional” framework put forward by the Europeans. Citing European officials, it said the plan would include some sort of guarantee that the government would not be overthrown, through either outside attack or subversion.

And while the Europeans are persisting in the view that there will eventually have to be talks between the United States and Iran on security matters, administration officials say Washington would flatly reject any such proposal. — Reuters