Separatists reject Delhi's ceasefire offer

After remaining silent for a day, separatist leaders in Kashmir on Thursday rejected the Centre's Ramazan ceasefire announcement terming it a "cosmetic measure".

The three top separatist leaders, Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, after a brief meeting in Srinagar, said the people of Kashmir, as a peace-loving nation, believe in permanent peace "rather than a relaxation in killing for one month".

"India, instead of hearing the clear message of the people of Kashmir, is hell-bent to trample the genuine voice of the people by its military might," they said while terming the ceasefire a "ploy to hoodwink the public opinion at both national and international levels".

"It doesn't make any difference whether the ceasefire is called for a month or two. We need to find the root cause of the conflict and the reason why the youth is picking up arms. We need to address the dispute," they said.

Responding to a call for a unilateral ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, the Centre on Wednesday asked security forces not to launch anti-militancy operations in the state during Ramazan.

The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba has rejected the ceasefire announcement calling it "drama".

"We deem it as sin and disgrace to the sacrifices put up in the freedom struggle. We are the heirs of the martyrs. Opting for such choice is treachery to the blood of the martyrs and there is no disgrace as such," local media quoted LeT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi as having said.

Earlier, the ruling PDP had called upon the trio to show a willingness to join an all-party delegation proposed to be sent to Delhi for a dialogue.

"The idea is to stop the bloodshed in Kashmir and then they (separatists) can pursue their politics and we (mainstreams) will ours," Naeem Akhtar, a senior PDP leader and Cabinet minister, had said.

The trio, even late last year, had rejected talks with the Centre's interlocutor on Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, and called his appointment "a new tactic" by New Delhi.

They claim that to be part of dialogue process would be a futile exercise "since this tactic has been adopted by the Indian government after its failure to crush the aspirations of the freedom-loving people through military repression".