KARACHI: A senior moderate separatist leader from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Friday called on militants fighting India's rule in the Indian-held Kashmir to join the political mainstream. "Now the time has come when political and militant wings sit together and formulate a strategy for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute," Mirwaiz Omar Farooq told foreign journalists in Karachi. He pointed to the example of Northern Ireland, where militants had backed a political solution to end decades of Protestant-Catholic violence in the British-ruled province.
| "... and look how well that's been working!" |
"At this juncture, political leadership should play a leading role with the support and consensus of militant leadership in finding a just solution to the Kashmir problem," Farooq said. |