Separatists free to go anywhere in free India: PDP

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday said it will not arrest separatist leaders in J&K to stall their impending meeting with Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz. The party said the separatists are living in a free country and they have every right to visit any part of India.

"We are not advising them (separatists) on whether they should visit Delhi to meet Pakistan's NSA or not. But we would only tell them that they should act as facilitators in the dialogue process. And if their absence helps the dialogue process more than their presence, they should not go," PDP leader and chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's political analyst Wahid Rehman Parra told Mail Today.

Parra said the separatists should serve the cause of dialogue rather than hindering the dialogue process. "For years separatists have been calling for dialogue between the two countries and when the dialogue process has started, they now have got an opportunity to facilitate the process," he said.

He, however, added that the state government would not stop the Hurriyat leaders from going to Delhi as it would be construed as not allowing two parties to talk. The separatist leaders, Parra said, should allow the NSA talks to be held in a cordial atmosphere. He said even on Thursday, the state government had not made ordered preventive detention of separatist leaders.

"It is not the chief minister who orders the arrest of separatists or others. This is done at a local level, keeping in view the law and order situation. Local authorities might have felt the need to tighten the vigil near the houses of separatists to maintain law and order. Since this coincides with the NSA-level talks, it was given a different spin by the media," the PDP leader said.

Education Minister Naeem Akhtar echoed similar views. He said the separatist leaders were Indian citizens and they have every right to go from one part of India to another. "They don't need a permit to visit another part of the country," Akhtar said. However, he said, the state government was keen that NSA-level talks should be held and continued without any interruption.

"We have repeatedly stated that the dialogue should be held to resolve conflict and bring problems of Jammu and Kashmir to an end," he added. Meanwhile, separatists said they would visit Delhi to hold talks with Sartaj Aziz. Moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said he would leave for New Delhi to attend the reception on Sunday afternoon. Other separatist leaders are also expected to leave on Sunday while hardline faction leader Syed Ali Geelani will leave for New Delhi on Monday.