Hurriyat for Eid ceasefire

Favouring a ceasefire in Kashmir coinciding with Eid next month, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday said this would build "moral pressure" on militant outfits.

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"You cannot have a militant struggle in Jammu and Kashmir unless or until you have people supporting it. And I think the indications we are getting from Kashmir is that people themselves have a realisation that yes, gun definitely is there but for sometime it has to be silent," senior Hurriyat leader, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, said in an interview to Karan Thapar for Court Martial programme on SAB TV.

"Hurriyat Conference does not control any outfit as such, but I think when you talk about any movement forward especially that of militants, it depends on support from masses," Umer, who was part of the five-member delegation that held talks with Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on January 22, said.

He said Eid would be the right occasion to announce cessation of operations against militants.

Asked what was the guarantee that the militants will not reject the ceasefire offer as they did earlier in 2000, the Mirwaiz said: "The onus is on the other side, but the sincerity of the government will be highlighted."