New Delhi, Aug 06: The three-member delegation of Hurriyat Conference today met the diplomats of Ireland and discussed the possibility of initiating a peace process similar to that of northern Ireland in resolving the Kashmir dispute. Hurriyat Conference delegation comprising its chairman Maulana Abbas Ansari, former chairmen Abdul Gani Bhat and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and peoples' league member Bashir Tota met Irish diplomats here and discussed the modalities adopted in the peace process which was instrumental in restoring peace in northern Ireland. The Hurriyat leaders were silent about the discussions with the Irish diplomats, but the sources said today's meeting with the Irish officials would help the Hurriyat Conference to chalk out their future strategy. The sources said Hurriyat would also form a team which would hold talks with the people instrumental in bringing peace to the northern Ireland including members of the Sinn Fein party of the northern Ireland. The broad outline of the Irish peace process was that the Irish Republican Army would stop its militants activities while its political outfit, Sinn Fein, would hold talks with the British government.
However, what remains to be seen is that whether Hurriyat leaders have a control over the gun-weilding militants in the state like the Sinn Fein party which could help in disarming the Ira and announce a ceasefire on their behalf.
Bureau Report