All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Saturday asked New Delhi “not to see the Kashmir issue through military prism and reciprocate positively to resolve the age-old dispute”.
“The Kashmir issue is not Muslim Kashmir versus Hindu India, nor is it a clash of cultures. It’s a dispute with history and it's Kashmiri peoples' problem…,” said the Mirwaiz at his first press conference in Sringar after his visit to Saudi Arabia and Geneva. He said the Hurriyat has tried to play a positive role to end the dispute. “We made suggestions to New Delhi to create a conducive atmosphere to resolve the issue but the reciprocation has been sad…,” the Mirwaiz added.
Referring to the Afghanistan-Pakistan focus of the US and European countries, the Mirwaiz said peace in Afghanistan has to come through Kashmir. “There is a correlation between Kashmir and Afghanistan.”
He said third-party mediation was inevitable given the Indo-Pak mistrust. “We will welcome any country to act as mediator whether the US or China or anybody,” he added.