Srinagar, July 12: Stating that dialogue and not gun was the actual road for solving the Kashmir issue, newly elected chairman of Hurriyat Conference Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari today said the issue was not a border dispute between India and Pakistan but a "humanitarian" problem. "Kashmir issue is not a border dispute between India and Pakistan but humanitarian problem. It cannot be solved through gun but by negotiations. Kashmiris being the principal party to the dispute should be included in any talks aimed at resolving the issue," 65-year-old Ansari told reporters after his unanimous election as Hurriyat chairman.

"However, we were not insisting for inclusion at the outset of the dialogue process between India and Pakistan but we have to be included at a later stage," he said.

Terming the resumption of bus service between India and Pakistan as "travel of friendship" Ansari said, "We know the pain of separation as families are divided across the line of control. We are not allowed to meet each other to share joy and sorrow of our loved ones."

The new Hurriyat chairman was quick enough to downplay any differences within the amalgam saying "there is no controversy. People's conference did not participate in the assembly polls and the Jamaat leader, who did, had been expelled from the party."


Flaying the healing touch policy of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, he said political prisoners were released and later re-arrested.
Bureau Report