A permanent solution to the longstanding Kashmir conflict can only be achieved if the people of the disputed valley are equally engaged in the peace process as the leadership of Pakistan and India, senior Kashmiri leaders said on Sunday. Yasin Malik, chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), gave his idea of how to determine the true leadership of Kashmir. “I suggest holding a referendum of both parts of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan and India and the party or group which gets a mandate from the people should be given representation in the tripartite dialogue to resolve this dispute once and for all,” Malik said at a high-profile conference held on the third day of the World Social Forum in Karachi. “A full scale and fair referendum would finally bring the true leadership of the Kashmiris who will be accepted by the rest to represent our people in the dialogue,” he said. “If the Indians are engaged in talks with a single party of Nagaland then why it this not the case for Kashmir?” He declared that 85 percent of the people of the valley wanted total freedom while only 15 percent of them wanted to be part of Pakistan.