E-Paper
‘Vishwas can’t come from heaven... need talks for it’
NEW DELHI: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury spoke to HT’s Saubhadra Chatterji about the all-party delegation’s Kashmir visit. Excerpts:
NEW DELHI: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury spoke to HT’s Saubhadra Chatterji about the all-party delegation’s Kashmir visit. Excerpts:
What are the key takeaways of the all-party delegation’s visit?
We didn’t go two months ago and ended up losing precious time and lives. The government did no real homework to pick issues from the earlier reports of the task forces and all-party team. If issues were selected, more meaningful interaction could have been done. There were no interlocutors.
Isn’t Hurriyat leader SAS Geelani’s refusal to meet the team a failure?
Not at all. We met four out of five Hurriyat leaders. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said during our meeting that they have decided against discussing political issues when Kashmir is burning. I said, I totally agree but we have come to help in restoring normalcy in the Valley. Geelani didn’t meet us but we delivered the message to the Kashmiri people that a section of Indian political establishment feels your pain and wants to talk to you.
What should be the approach in handling the Kashmir issue?
The entire Kashmir issue should be revisited. Many things have changed in India and these things can be added while reviewing the Kashmir problem. Obviously, some other things (plebiscite) have to be dropped. Essentially, we have to look at the possible erosions of Article 370 and mend them. Our PM talks about creating vishwas, but vishwas can’t come from heaven. It has to be created through dialogues with Kashmiris. Simultaneously, talks with Pakistan must continue.
