Qayyum warns Kashmir militant groups

One of Pakistan Kashmir's seniormost leaders warned groups that any attack on passengers on the first Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus would be seen as an act of war against Kashmiris.

Sardar Abdul Qayyum, the first president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir signalled how far down the road to peace he had travelled when he said "if such a mishap takes place it will be like going to war against the people of Kashmir. Then the Indian army will not be the enemy, the fight will be against these elements because such an act is tantamount to going to war with the people of Jammu and Kashmir."

Speaking to Gulf News from Islamabad he said even hardliners such as All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had condemned threats to attack the passengers. Hitherto unknown groups have published the names and addresses of 29 Indian Kashmiris booked on the mini-buses being readied for the first journey tomorrow, and threatened to send them home in coffins in an effort to intimidate them. Qayyum, recovering from surgery, says he is determined to be in the capital Muzaffarabad to see off and welcome the men and women who are set to make history.

"Let me tell you, this bus will be defended by the people of both sides of Jammu and Kashmir," he said, "they will protect it with their lives." The way people have responded to the opportunity to travel has repudiated the bigoted thinking of many of the vested interests who want the tensions to continue in the region.

Qayyum, who heads the Peoples Conference founded by the legendary Kashmiri, Shaikh Abdullah, suspects the threats were not being issued by real militants but people trained in subversion.

Calling on people not to be afraid to travel, he defended Pakistan's decision not to allow an all party delegation from Srinagar, and criticism in Muzaffarabad that only officials‚ relatives had been cleared for travel. "These are small matters. Kashmir is a much wider issue."

While asking the international community to take note of the threats, and any other moves to derail confidence building measures, he flayed the intellectual class on both sides for failing to find a solution.

The ageing leader said: "I would like to categorically state 'let us forget about finding this peaceful solution to the Kashmir problem for now. Let us go for what I call these interim steps, which will lead to people who have not seen each other over four generations to be able to meet'."

"You know the number of times we have called for the Kashmiri leadership to meet. An open discussion will not pose a threat to any party, but this is what we, the Kashmiri leadership want dialogue between Kashmiris and non-Kashmiris, between militants and non-militants. Once we start talking, the solutions will come."

He would like other meeting points along the Line of Control to open up in Poonch, Bhimbher, Neelam and Kargil, so that "people divided not by Partition but by a political act could regain their original identity".

As president of the truncated state he says he had issued an invitation in 1971 to the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

"It's taken more than 30 years for it to happen," but warned "the bus must be the first of many more confidence building measures this should not be the first and last step."