Jammu, March 13
Kashmir separatists have no immediate plan for visiting Muzaffarabad from the Uri side once the road is thrown open from April 7.

The president Democratic Freedom Party, Mr Shabir Ahmed Shah, and a former Chairman, APHC, Molvi Abbas Ansari, told this correspondent today, “For the time being we have no plan of travelling on the Srinagar-Uri road for reaching Muzaffarabad.”

In reply to a question the two leaders said, “We have not applied for the permit by filling the form issued by the passport office.”

Molvi Ansari said, “I have not yet procured the form from the passport office. If I do it, I shall first study the details we have to furnish.”

Mr Shah and Molvi Ansari said, “If the opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road is part of the confidence-building measures, we welcome it. But neither Delhi nor Islamabad should restrict the on-going talks to the road-opening programme.”

They said, “First of all, we want the guns to fall silent. We want the Indian troops to act as security forces and not occupational forces so that human rights violations become a thing of the past.”

Molvi Ansari said, “There are apprehensions that Delhi is not serious on settling the Kashmir issue. Had it been, it should have started another round of dialogue with the APHC.”

He said, “We had two rounds of talks with the Centre during the time the NDA was in power. We want the talks to move ahead. We are ready for the dialogue, but we expect a formal invitation for it.”

A senior police officer, posted in Kashmir, said, “Even if the separatists apply for a permit, the state agencies have to be extra careful while issuing the clearance certificates because the passports of senior separatists leaders, except Molvi Umar Farooq, have been impounded by the Government of India.”

It is in this context that both Mr Shah and Molvi Ansari said by impounding the passports the government had already “insulted us.” Mr Shah wanted the travel system on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road to be further simplified because the way the forms issued by the passport office for applying for the permit was no different than the drill required for seeking a passport.

He said, “Our time for visiting Muzaffarabad will come when we see all youths and leaders languishing in different jails for the past over one decade without any trial, are released.”

In fact, the Kashmiri separatists prefer the wait and watch policy so that the progress of the traffic on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad can be monitored by them. Once they feel that the people’s response to the opening of the new route is enormous, and the Government of India is keen to resume dialogue with the separatists, they will apply for the permit.