Hurriyat Conference leaders should be allowed to go to Pakistan if they think it could help the peace process in the state, founder member of JKLF and hijacker of Indian Airlines plane Hashim Qureshi said in New Delhi on Friday. "It is all right if somebody makes a move to buy peace and the move should be appreciated by everyone," Qureshi told PTI while being taken to Srinagar to stand trial there. The 47-year-old Qureshi asked all groups to unite and usher peace in the state. "After all peace has to be restored at all costs as this is the cry of every Kashmiri," he said. Asked whether he would be participating in the peace process initiated in the state after the announcement of ceasefire by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Qureshi said "I have come here leaving my business and family only to extend a helping hand in bringing lost prestige to the state."
Taking a dig at Pakistan, Qureshi said, "Pakistan should be made to understand that when the final dispensation of Kashmir comes, it will include Gilgit, Baltistan and Hunza, which have been illegally annexed by Pakistan."
Denying the charges levelled by Pakistan-based JKLF Chief Amanullah Khan that his arrest was stage managed, Qureshi, who arrived in New Delhi on December 29 from Copenhagen, said "There is no deal between me and the Government. If there was a deal than I would not have been languishing in Jail for last 14 days." Qureshi said that he would even consider going to Pakistan if it was required to bring peace to Kashmiri people. Asked specifically whether he would go to Pakistan to talk to militant groups, Qureshi, who has been quite vocal against Islamabad's policy towards Kashmir, said "I do not know as of now but I may." Qureshi, who later formed Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party (JKDLP), pledged his full support to the Centre's peace initiative in the state saying, "I have come here to support Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's peace initiative."
Encircled by a team of Jammu and Kashmir policemen headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police R S Sharma, Qureshi said that he was very happy to go to his motherland after nearly three decades. "This love for my motherland forced me to withdraw the petition from Delhi High Court challenging my detention and subsequent transit remand to the state police," he said, adding "I love Kashmir and I am going back for the people of my motherland." Travelling on a Dutch passport, Qureshi was arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport after he surrendered before the immigration authorities, who later handed him over to the Delhi Police.

Bureau Report