Kashmiri leader urges rebels to join political mainstream

"Now the time has come when political and militant wings sit together and formulate a strategy for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute," Mirwaiz Omer Farooq told foreign journalists in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

He pointed to the example of Northern Ireland, where militants had backed a political solution to end decades of Protestant-Catholic violence in the British-ruled province.

Farooq is leading a group of moderate leaders from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference -- an umbrella group of more than two dozen Indian Kashmiri groups -- on a rare visit to Pakistan.

India, which had never before allowed Hurriyat to travel to Pakistan, agreed to the visit as part of an 18-month old peace process between the neighbouring countries.

"At this juncture, political leadership should play a leading role with the support and consensus of militant leadership in finding a just solution to the Kashmir problem," Farooq said.

He also offered to give militant groups representation in Hurriyat.

Militant groups have waged a bloody insurgency since 1989 against Indian rule in mainly Muslim Kashmir, which is partly controlled by Pakistan. The insurgency has left tens of thousands dead.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and funding Muslim rebels, while Islamabad says it is doing its best to prevent rebel infiltration into the Indian side.

Both countries, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, claim the region in full.

Xinhua adds: Pakistani Infor-mation and Broadcasting Minister Sheikh Rashid Friday said the Indians should immediately release the Kashmiris detained in jails as a new confidence building measure (CBM).

"There should be new CBMs on Kashmir such as instant release of all those people detained in the India-held Kashmir and free access to the media of the entire region," Rashid told a private television channel.

Rashid believed that the issue of Kashmir would get settled in near future vis-a-vis the prevailing global conditions. "This is a changing world order, wherein golden opportunities have been opened for the resolution of both the issues of Kashmir and Palestine," he said.

Rashid said the start of a bus service in the divided Kashmir in early April would open new avenues of communication between the people of Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC).

He suggested that the Kashmiris from the other side of the LoC be allowed to bring their fruits and handicrafts to the markets in Pakistan and the Pakistan-held Kashmir.

Rashid said the economic condition of the Kashmiris in the India-held Kashmir had been deteriorating for the past years and the mutual trade would provide them relief.