NEWSLINKS US EDITION NEWS DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ARCHIVES
Sumir Kaul in New Delhi
The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference on Thursday admitted to the US leaning on it and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.
"I will not like to term it as a pressure and it is not the right word to use. Instead we can call it an effort to make the countries [India and Pakistan] have a balanced approach in resolving the Kashmir issue," Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat said, when asked whether he was admitting that there was US pressure to resolve the Kashmir issue.
He went on to claim that it was the American policy, which would decide whether Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would be meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Asked whether the amalgam had any 'ray of hope' from the ongoing UN session, Bhat said, "It all depends on how the United States chooses to engage both of them."
Bhat, who has been camping in Delhi for the last four days, said finally both New Delhi and Islamabad would have to come to the table to resolve the issue and the 'sooner it will be, the better for the entire South Asia'.
Asked whether on their return the amalgam leaders would continue with their 'poll boycott' campaign, Bhat said, "Well, we will see. It is not a boycott campaign, but an exercise to make people aware about the futility of these elections."
Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage
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