Talks must include all separatists, Pak: Farooq

Without naming Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, who is very keen on the talks, Dr Abdullah said dialogue with only some leaders will not help. “Some leaders while addressing the people in mosques are making tall claims for solving the Kashmir. Let me tell you, that they cannot do anything. We can see a difference only when all separatists are taken on board and dialogue held with them also,” he said.

Abdullah favoured including Pakistan into the dialogue process to give it credibility and make it result-oriented.

He urged the Union government to appoint a retired Supreme Court judge for a probe in the Chattisinghpora massacre. Thirty five Sikhs were killed by unidentified gun men on the evening of March 20, 2000 at Chattisinghpora in Anantnag district. The government at that time blamed the militants for the massacre.
Some days after the massacre, security forces killed five persons dubbing them as foreign militants and claimed that they were involved in the killing of Sikhs. But later a probe by CBI established that all the five slain persons were local civilians, who were allegedly killed in custody by the security forces after their arrest.

Army indicted
CBI even presented a charge sheet against five army officials in a court in Srinagar for their alleged involvement in the civilians’ killing.
Only two days back Sikh leader Simranjit Singh Mann, head of Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann) who was here had alleged that the Chattisinghpora massacre was the handywork of security forces. But on Sunday the Sikh leaders at the function criticised Mann’s statement and described it unfortunate. They demanded that the persons behind the massacre be punished.