Day after Rajnath’s remarks on 2016 talks, Mirwaiz says Hurriyat always supported dialogue on Kashmir

Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, while reacting to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s reference to a dialogue initiative of 2016, on Monday said his amalgam “never opposed dialogue on Kashmir and strongly advocated engagement as a means of resolution”. We requested Mr. Owaisi sahab to ask the government to stop the killings and allow the Hurriyat leadership lodged in different jails and under house arrests to meet with each other and discuss the situation among themselves first before they decide if they can collectively talk to the delegation and figure out if the Opposition MPs can help in some serious attempt at long term engagement,” the Mirwaiz said. The Mirwaiz said his Hurriyat, right from the time of its engagement with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K.Advani to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, “has participated in every opportunity that was made available by the Government of India”. “Despite the huge personal costs borne by the Mirwaiz and other Hurriyat leaders and their families for such engagements, the Hurriyat never shied away from them,” the Mirwaiz said.