Saturday, June 11 2005 16:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Moderate Hurriyat faction chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has propounded a new concept for resolving the Kashmir issue, one of the 'United States of Kashmir' in which people would be able to move freely.

"We desire to be citizens of the United States of Kashmir and we desire India and Pakistan to give a free hand to the Kashmiri leadership to come up with new proposals," he said adding the Hurriyat Conference has decided to take the initiative.

He was addressing a "Symposium on Kashmir, looking towards the future' organised by Pakistani daily 'Dawn' in collaboration with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the Pakistan Peace Coalition and the Islamabad Council for World Affairs in Karachi yesterday (Jun 10, 2005).

"I don't want to take the bus 20 years down the line, I want to fly to New Delhi, Islamabad or Tashkent. We want to move beyond the traditional line," he said without elaborating.

Farooq said, "Conversion of the LoC into a permanent border or the status quo was not acceptable. Apart from these two, we are ready to explore other options. Decisions should not be imposed from New Delhi or Islamabad".

As India was not ready for tripartite negotiations, the moderate Hurriyat leader said, "A way out could be triangular talks between Kashmiris and Pakistan, between Kashmiris and India and between Pakistan and India."