Mirwaiz ready for talks with Centre, suggests Vajpayee formula as ‘best’

: Moderate Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is in favour of holding an “unconditional dialogue” with the Centre, but believes the chances of that effort achieving any success would be best if Vajpayee government’s doctrine of the early 2000s was followed.

Farooq, in an interview to the PTI at his home on Monday, noted that under the Vajpayee formula, “all parties were involved,” in a reference to the communication the Kashmiri separatist leaders were allowed to have with New Delhi as well as with Islamabad and counterparts in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

“We want a mechanism to be prepared for talks where everyone is involved. We don’t want it to be just a photo opportunity,” the Mirawaiz said. “Let’s start the process of the talks. Let’s not bother about the results. But the process has to be sincere.”

The 44-year-old leader had welcomed talks suggested recently by Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

However, this is the first time he has elaborated on what he thinks would make the talks successful to resolve the 70-year-old problem.

Still, his perceived insistence on the Vajpayee formula is unlikely to go down well with the current government as the condition brings Pakistan into the mix. “All the government needs is to study old files of that time (Vajpayee government). You can give it any name: tripartite, triangular or three way mechanism. But it is the key,” said Farooq. PTI

SRINAGAR