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Separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani has said that Jammu & Kashmir's interests would be best served by a merger with Pakistan.
He, however, said the people of the state should be allowed to make a final decision in the matter.
"On a practical basis, I am in favour of Kashmir with Pakistan. I believe the interests of Kashmir will be best served if it is a part of Pakistan," the Online news agency quoted Geelani as saying in an interview with Wadi Ki Awaz [Call of the Valley].
"We have a 760km border with Pakistan as against just 81km with India. All our rivers flow to Pakistan," he said, giving reasons for Jammu & Kashmir's merger with Pakistan.
"Nonetheless, I will go by the verdict of the people, even if it is to go with India. At least give them a chance to decide."
Geelani, former chairman of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organisation of Kashmiri separatist groups, said there is a need for talks involving India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri people to resolve the issue.
He said nothing would come out of the present framework for talks. "Past experience has shown that any attempt to address the [Kashmir] issue in a bilateral framework has failed, be it [agreements signed in] Tashkent or Simla or the Lahore Declaration between India and Pakistan or the 1975 Indira-Abdullah accord between the Indian and Kashmiri leadership," he said.
"We're not fighting just for transfer of power, but the permanent settlement of the Kashmir problem that could bring permanent peace. It is important to include the basic party to the dispute and that is Pakistan, which has been recognised by India itself when it signed the Tashkent and Simla accords."
Stressing the need to include Kashmiris in any dialogue process, Geelani said: "We have made our position clear in the past too whenever India and Pakistan themselves tried to discuss the Kashmir issue. The future of 15 million Kashmiris is associated with it.
"It is not a border dispute. Unless a firm basis is provided by accepting harsh realities, nothing will come out of talks."
Geelani said Pakistan had nothing to do with the Hurriyat's decision to reject talks with K C Pant, the Indian government's interlocutor for talks with Kashmiri groups. The decision was made after all members of the APHC reached a consensus that the offer for talks was nothing but an attempt to hoodwink the international community.
He claimed that a jihad was justified in Jammu & Kashmir as it was a response to the alleged reign of terror unleashed by Indian security forces.
Hailing Pakistan's policy on Kashmir, he said the current military regime in Islamabad "is very positive and realistic".
"They reiterate time and again that the Kashmir problem is the core issue between India and Pakistan. However, the weak policies and parasitic character of successive governments have reduced the Kashmir issue from an international issue to a border dispute between the two countries," he said.
Indo-Asian News Service
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