Elections would have no bearing on Kashmir issue: Mirwaiz

Back home after facing questioning by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in New Delhi in a terror funding case, Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told a Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid here that the separatists would not change their stand on Kashmir issue due to coercion.

The Mirwaiz said that elections would have no bearing on the issue and it needs to be addressed.

It is our policy that Kashmir issue has to be resolved. If not today, but tomorrow, there has to be a peaceful solution to the issue. There is no option before India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri leadership than to address the issue.

We will not change our stand because of this policy of use of force or coercion, he said addressing the people who had gathered for Friday prayers at the mosque.

The separatist leader said Kashmir is a political issue which has to be resolved politically.

"Governments will come and go, but the basic issue will remain there till it is not resolved, he said.

The Hurriyat chairman said and the people of Kashmir and the armed forces of India and Pakistan were "getting consumed" in the conflict, but New Delhi "is not taking any initiative" aimed at resolving the issue.

The Mirwaiz returned to the valley on Thursday after spending three days in New Delhi where he was questioned by the NIA in connection with a case related to funding of terror groups and separatist organisations in Jammu and Kashmir.