Mirwaiz meets Basit

Chairman of moderate Hurriyat
Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq tonight met Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to understand Islamabad's stand at the recent Foreign Secretary-level talks held between India and Pakistan besides informing him of the "ground situation" in the state.
After reaching Delhi, the Mirwaiz, who is leading a team of seven members to participate in the Pakistan Day celebrations tomorrow, said, "It is important that you understand, if we have to end violence, Kashmir cannot have a military solution. It cannot have a solution through violence.
"But we also need to have a parallel political process so that we can move forward towards this resolution. Hurriyat primarily believes that Kashmir is a political problem, it is not a problem of good or bad governance. It is not a territorial dispute, it is not a regional dispute. It's an issue about the people. Let there be some movement forward, let some political initiative be taken. We are ready to support that process, both vis-a-vis New Delhi and through Islamabad."

The Mirwaiz later met Basit for a one-to-one meeting at the residence of the High Commissioner where the envoy told him about the stand taken by Islamabad during the talks held between Inidian Foreign Secretary S Jaishanker and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry.
This meeting comes a fornight after Basit had gone to the Delhi residence of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and updated him about the talks.
Before going for the meeting with the Pakstani High Commissioner, the Mirwaiz told PTI that his group was always in favour of finding a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue and act "as a bridge" between the two countries for building and consolidating peace in the entire sub-continent.

"Both the countries have been holding talks with each other for nearly six decades but no solution has emerged. We in Hurriyat believe that we can become a platform, a bridge where the two countries can build and consolidate peace in the entire region.