JKNF extends 'full' support to summit

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, JULY 10. Jammu and Kashmir National Front (JKNF) has extended its full support to the forthcoming summit-level talks between India and Pakistan and hoped that this positive development will lead to initiation of a process aimed at resolution of Kashmir issue.

Strongly opposing certain voices, which have chosen to make the representation of Kashmiris in the talks as an issue, the JKNF chairman and senior separatist leader, Mr. Naeem Ahmed Khan, said, ``it could have been better if the principal party to the issue - the people of Kashmir - had also been involved in the process. However, we need not make it an issue if India and Pakistan move ahead with desirable regard and respect for the wishes of the people of the State''.

``Basically, it is the two parties (India and Pakistan) which have to concede the right of self-determination to people of Jammu & Kashmir. Therefore, the presence of Kashmiris in the summit is not indispensable if they take concrete steps in that direction,'' Mr. Khan told a crowded news conference here.

However, he cautioned that ``if the wishes and aspirations of people are compromised, the summit is doomed not only to fail but it will also boomerang with a big bang''. It was a veiled reference to the Hurriyat Conference which has been demanding participation of Kashmiris in the talks.

Mr. Khan maintained that the Agra summit has raised hopes and the hopes need to be substantiated with practical steps and sustained. ``Sincere, practical and positive steps are needed to be initiated now to be followed up subsequently,'' he said.

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