By IRNA,
Srinagar, India : Strongly condemning the Mumbai attacks, the Hurriyat Conference today stressed on India and Pakistan to refrain from trading accusations but take steps to resolve the Kashmir issue which it said was at the root of tensions between the two countries.
In an extraordinary meeting of its executive council, moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference described growing tensions between India and Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks as the most serious threat to peace and security in the South Asian region.
The multi-party pro-freedom alliance appealed to both countries to display seriousness and sincerity in resolving all problems, including the Kashmir issue, which it said was the basic reason for the six decades of tension between the two neighbours, instead of trading allegations and counter-allegations.
“By accusing Pakistan of every untoward act on its soil, India can neither find an escape route from the Kashmir issue nor divert international attention from the oppression being wreaked on the Kashmiri people for more than six decades,” it said.
“Whenever an effective voice on the Kashmir issue has been raised at the international level or a favorable Indo-Pak climate created with respect to the issue, unpleasant events take place on Indian soil, giving birth to tensions between the two countries which not only affect the composite dialogue on Kashmir adversely but also hamper the confidence building process,” it said.
Meanwhile Syed Ali Geelani, a hardline leader of the Hurriyat Conference, in a separate statement described the Mumbai attacks as the worst form of terror and warned of the horrendous consequences of an Indo-Pak war, saying that even imagining it sent ‘chills down the spine’.
Geelani said that both countries were nuclear powers, and would be destroyed in the event of a war.
He also said that the Mumbai attacks were a cover up for ‘Saffron Terror’, a reference to Hindu activists arrested recently for a spate of terror acts.
In a statement issued today, the Hurriyat leader said that the attacks in Mumbai were the worst form of terrorism and an inhuman act.
“Though investigations into the attacks are still at a preliminary stage, the Indian prime minister has pointed fingers at Pakistan by mentioning a neighboring country, and then issued an unambiguous warning,” Geelani said.
“Accusations by the Indian government against Pakistan after such tragedies are nothing new,” he said.
“Indian Muslims, and even Pakistan directly, were accused after Malegaon, Samjhauta Express and other blasts, but when the ATS began investigating, not only Hindu extremists but retired and serving army officers were found involved,” Geelani said.
“But before these investigations could be taken to their logical conclusion, the BJP began exerting pressure out of fear of exposure of Saffron Terror, and the accused were taken out of police hands and given into judicial custody,” he said.
“The real actor in the investigation, Hemant Karkare, and other police officers were done to death in the Mumbai attacks, and as such a huge stride was made in the deep conspiracy to cover up the terrorism of Hindu extremists,” he said.
“The second part of the conspiracy is to shift blame on Pakistan to divert attention and alter the course of Hindu Terrorism,” he said.