In a significant positive development in Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said that the separatist group is ready to engage with the Modi-led central government to resolve the “Kashmir issue”.

Delivering Friday sermons at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid, Mirwaiz said, “Hurriyat engaged with Vajpayee Saheb, Manmohan Singh Ji, and Musharraf Saheb, and is always ready to engage with the current dispensation in New Delhi. There has been too much bloodshed in Kashmir to allow it to continue.”

Echoing PM Narendra Modi’s words at the BRICS summit, Mirwaiz reaffirmed the All Parties Hurriyat Conference’s (APHC) commitment to peaceful engagement for conflict resolution amid the changing geopolitical scenario.

“At the BRICS summit, PM Modi Ji himself spoke about dialogue and diplomacy as the means for settling conflicts and not war,” he said.

Mirwaiz recalled, “When APHC was formed by the leadership in 1993, the situation was entirely different, with militancy at its peak. Even at that time, APHC’s proclamation clearly stated that it advocates a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict through engagement, and even after 30 years, this outlook remains the same.”

Mirwaiz said the recent killing in Gagangeer is very shocking and disturbing, and now we hear of killings in the high-security area of Gulmarg. These are very serious matters that can escalate and should be investigated.

He was referring to the killing of seven persons at a tunnel construction site in Ganderbal and Thursday’s terror attack on an Army vehicle in which five people, including three soldiers, were killed.

Referring to his recent meeting with his colleagues, Mirwaiz said that since August 2019, during which he was mostly under house arrest, he was able to meet his colleagues Professor Abdul Gani Bhat Saheb, Bilal Gani Lone Saheb, and Masroor Ansari Saheb together for the first time in over five years. “It was a very emotional moment,” he remarked.

“They remembered colleagues who passed away during this time — Syed Ali Geelani Saheb, Molana Abbas Ansari Saheb, Musaddiq Adil Saheb, and Ashraf Sehrai Saheb. The members also expressed regret over the continued detention of their colleagues and Hurriyat leaders languishing in jails, including Yasin Malik Saheb, Shabir Shah Saheb, Asiya Andrabi Sahiba, Shahidul Islam, Nayeem Khan, Qasim Phaktoo, Masarat Alam, Peer Hafizullah, Ayaz Akbar, and others,” he added.