Never shied away from dialogue with govt: Mirwaiz's Hurriyat

Srinagar, Sep 9: Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Monday said it has never shied away from dialogue with the government as it believes talks are the only way to ensure peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Hurriyat was reacting to the remarks made by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday that in the aftermath of violence following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in 2016, he as the Union home minister had led a parliamentary delegation to meet separatists, but they shut their doors.

"I led a parliamentary delegation to meet the Hurriyat Conference as we were ready for talks with them for restoration of peace. Sharad Yadav along with others went to meet the Hurriyat leaders but they shut their doors.

"People were demanding withdrawal of cases against innocent and minor children and I talked to Mehbooba and asked her to release them. We did everything but the way they (Hurriyat leaders) should have responded, they did not," Singh said at an election rally in Ramban in Jammu region.

In a statement, the Hurriyat said "certain facts need to be reiterated to set the record straight".

"In September 2016, Mirwaiz was detained at the Chesmashahi sub-jail. A letter was handed over to him by the jail authorities from Mehbooba Mufti written in her capacity as the president of PDP and not as the chief minister which she was at that time, requesting him to meet with a visiting delegation of opposition MPs and talk to them," the Hurriyat said.

It said AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of the visiting opposition delegation, came to see the Mirwaiz in the sub-jail and during the meeting, Owaisi told the Mirwaz that a delegation of MPs wants to meet the Hurriyat leadership regarding the situation in the valley.

"Mirwaiz requested Owaisi to ask the government to stop killings and allow Hurriyat leadership to meet and discuss the situation first before they decide if they can collectively talk to the delegation, and (also) figure out if the opposition MPs can help in some serious attempt at long term engagement or if it is just another attempt at crisis management which will be dumped once the crisis is over as past experiences have shown," the statement said.

The Hurriyat said Mirwaiz told Owaisi that no separatist leader was in a position to take a decision individually regarding the situation.

"Owaisi agreed to it and said that he will convey this request to the government and left. After that, nothing was heard of it," the Hurriyat added.

The statement said the Hurriyat is surprised to know for the first time that the initiative was taken at the behest of the government of India.

"The fact is that under the leadership of Mirwaiz, it (Hurriyat) has always strongly and repeatedly advocated engagement and dialogue with the political aspirations and sentiments of the people of J&K as a means of resolution," it said.

The separatist amalgam said right from the time of its engagement with the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former home minister L K Advani, to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the Hurriyat has participated in every opportunity that was made available by the government of India.

"Even at its own peril and despite the huge personal costs borne by the Mirwaiz and other Hurriyat leaders and their families for such engagements, it (Hurriyat) never shied away from them as it firmly believes that this is the only way to ensure peace and stability in J&K and the region and prosperity for the people and not for any personal profit or power for Hurriyat," the statement said.

The Hurriyat said even after the "drastic unilateral changes" in 2019 and prolonged house detention of Mirwaiz till September 2023, he has been repeating his advocacy for talks at every occasion, "but to no avail".