JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Tuesday there was no need for third party mediation to resolve the Kashmir issue.

"We are in a position to resolve the crisis," he said and called upon political parties to understand the situation in which redrawing of borders was not possible and instead create an atmosphere of reconciliation and peace in the region.

Speaking on a resolution moved in the Legislative Council to appreciate Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for holding a roundtable conference on Kashmir, Mr. Azad said Dr. Singh had carved out an appropriate phrase of "redrawing of boundaries" which "has put an end to the much-talked-about territorial adjustment to resolve the Kashmir issue."

"People also have realised that redrawing of borders was not possible and we should not use such slogans for vote bank politics," he said. "It is possible that some area may be added to our side but there is no question of seceding anything ... we are capable enough to resolve this issue and we do not need intervention from countries such as the U.S. or the U.K."

Manmohan's initiative

Giving details of the February 25 round table conference held in New Delhi, he said it was an initiative of the Prime Minister "with whom I had talked a number of times about taking into confidence the elected representatives of the State. He further expanded it to include the separatists, though most of them did not attend ... beyond that I had no role and the Union Home Ministry was involved in inviting the people." He was responding to senior Congress leader G.R. Kar's observation that the list was selective.

Mr. Azad reiterated his Government's resolve to carry on the peace process and get the people out of the situation of chaos and uncertainty. "The time has arrived for us to come out of closed rooms and talk openly on all the thoughts being put forward to resolve the Kashmir issue." But he made it clear that the elected representatives of the State also have to be part of the process aimed at finding an acceptable solution.

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