Mirwaiz Urges Clinton to Push for Kashmir Resolution

SRINAGAR: Indian Kashmir’s top leader urged visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday to push nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan to resolve their dispute over Kashmir.

“Kashmir is not a religious issue, it is not an issue of terrorism or extremism, it is a political dispute and the United States has a role to push both India and Pakistan to settle this political dispute,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said in a statement.

Mirwaiz is chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, the volatile region’s main alliance.

His comments came as Clinton kicked off her Indian visit in Mumbai, scene of the attacks last year by militant gunmen that killed 166 people.

India has accused Pakistan of harbouring extremists who allegedly trained, equipped and financed the militants.

After the attacks, India suspended a peace dialogue with Pakistan that, among other issues, sought a resolution of the Kashmir conflict that has dominated bilateral relations since the division of the sub-continent in 1947.

Both countries claim the entire region of Kashmir which is currently divided between them by a Line of Control. A 20-year Muslim insurgency has claimed 47,000 lives in the Indian-administered section.

Peace in South Asia cannot be achieved “without a resolution of core issue of Kashmir,” Mirwaiz said.

Clinton denied Saturday that President Barack Obama’s administration is pressuring India into seeking peace with Pakistan so the latter could focus entirely on beating an Islamist insurgency on its border with Afghanistan, a US priority.

“The US… is very supportive of steps that the governments take but we are not in any way involved in or promoting any particular position,” she told reporters.

After talks Thursday in Egypt with his Pakistani counterpart Yousef Raza Gilani, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said negotiations with Pakistan would remain on hold until Islamabad takes action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.