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Govt rules out mediatory role for Hurriyat

The Union government Wednesday ruled out any mediatory role for Hurriyat Conference between India and Pakistan.

"The Hurriyat will not be used as a mediator for talks between India and Pakistan and if any talks were to take place these would be directly between the two countries," Union Home Minister L K Advani told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.

Replying to supplementaries, he said the Hurriyat leaders were not talking in one voice and those of them who had passports were free to go to Pakistan. The government proposed to hold talks with various groups in Jammu and Kashmir, including the Hurriyat Conference.

"We want Pakistan to exert pressure on militant groups to stop cross-border terrorism in Kashmir," he said.

He defended the extension of ceasefire till May-end saying it was done after consultations with all political parties.

On a query from Sanjay Nirupam (Shiv Sena) whether government would consider ending unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir as terrorist incidents had not shown any decline, Advani said the "perspective" of the army had been taken into account.

He said the ceasefire had reduced shelling from the Pakistan border and people in the valley were happy with the decision.

However, the government had not asked security forces to completely abandon their operations in Kashmir, he said adding the operations against groups involved in violence were continuing.

"In fact, we have even asked security forces not to wait to be attacked," Advani said. Action would be taken against those indulging in violence.

On reports that sections within security forces were opposing the ceasefire extension in view of the continued targeting of security personnel, Advani said government hadtaken the views of army commanders before the extension.

However, if there was any reservation, the government would take that also into consideration, he added.

PTI

The Kashmir Cease-Fire: The Complete Coverage

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