September 27, 2005 23:00 IST
Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said on Tuesday that the people of Kashmir would accept any solution other than the status quo and conversion of the Line of Control into an international border.
The people of Kashmir, he told a press conference, 'revolted against the status quo for their inalienable right to self-determination'.
Farooq, who had held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and Pakistan President Musharraf in New York earlier this month, said any solution to the Kashmir issue has to be acceptable to India and Pakistan and the people of Kashmir.
He said that he will be meeting the people of Jammu and Ladakh soon. The Mirwaiz said the Hurriyat is split and the conglomerate, too, has to have a common approach. He said he has had 'positive' talks with American officials in Washington.
"We appreciate the role of the United States for its engagement with both India and Pakistan in bringing these two neighbouring countries together to the negotiating table," he said.
According to the Hurriyat chairman, 'although the pace of the peace process in Kashmir is very slow, we believe that talks between India and Pakistan and between India and the Kashmiri leadership is the only option.'
