Mirwaiz reaches out to people of India

Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in an open letter addressed to the people of India said that after the general elections, there must be a serious, result-oriented and time-bound process of dialogue between the leadership of India, Pakistan and Jammu & Kashmir for the early settlement of Kashmir issue.

In a four page letter titled “An open letter to the people of India”, Mirwaiz said, “We urge you to recognize that the Kashmir issue is not a peripheral issue. You must understand and become seized of this important matter. In the past we made many attempts to reach out to you personally and apprise you of the Kashmir issue, but all these efforts were thwarted by use of brute force and hooliganism and on many occasions we were manhandled.”

“The continuation of this tragic conflict is also a direct threat to your interests and well-being as a people. In one way or another, this tragic conflict directly affects all of the other issues that are currently being debated during the election season in India.There is no better time than now to press your representatives to exercise their leadership to resolve the issue,” he said.

“Indeed, the Kashmir conflict is a direct threat to your prosperity. With more than 800 million people in India still living on less than $2 (120 rupees) a day, surely the estimated $37-47 billion per year that is being spent on military expenditures (which is 2 to 2.5% of GDP) could be put to much better use towards initiatives to lift more and more people out of poverty. If the Kashmir issue is resolved, not only would this costly arms race come to an end, it would open up the multipliers of economic cooperation and trade.” Mirwaiz added.