The Hindu : `People have a major role in resolving Kashmir issue'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 04, 2004

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`People have a major role in resolving Kashmir issue'

By Shujaat Bukhari

Asiya Andrabi

SRINAGAR JAN. 3. Branding all leaders in Jammu and Kashmir as agents of either India or Pakistan, Asiya Andrabi, chief of the radical women's outfit, Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), has said that the people of Kashmir will have to play a major role in resolving the five-decade-old dispute.

Asiya, the most wanted woman in Kashmir, says there is no reason to entertain high hopes about the outcome of the SAARC meeting, as ``Kashmir is not going to be discussed there.''

``This has been made amply clear by both India and Pakistan'' she told at an undisclosed location. ``If India and Pakistan come closer and do not discuss Kashmir, it is not good for us.''

Ms. Andrabi, who started a campaign in the early Nineties to enforce the veil among women, is equally critical of India, Pakistan and the leaders of both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference.

But she is all praise for militants, whom she calls the ``real Mujahideen.''

Coming down heavily on the Kashmiri leadership, she said no one was independent. If Hurriyat (Abbas) was pro-India, the other faction led by Geelani was controlled by Pakistan and the Inter-Services Intelligence, she asserted. ``I personally had lot of expectations from Geelani Saheb, but he has also disappointed us''.

While she accused India of continuing with its ``stubborn attitude'' she blamed Pakistan for the ``compromises'' it made.

``It is because the people in Pakistan are supportive of the Kashmir cause that President Musharraf had to change his statement recently,'' said Ms. Andrabi. ``Pakistan is facing a lot of pressure from the United States''.

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