Srinagar:The election of Barack Obama as US President has generated hope among separatists in Kashmir that the decades-long Kashmir issue would be solved soon.

Welcoming the election of Obama, chairman of Moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said "We see a role for US in resolution of Kashmir issue and hope that Obama will fulfill his responsibility."

Mirwaiz, who has been placed under house arrest since this morning ahead of proposed Jamia Masjid march by separatists, said "We hope that he (Obama) will give practical shape to his encouraging statements on resolution of Kashmir during campaigning."

Meanwhile, chairman of Hardline faction of Hurriyat Syed Ali Shah Geelani said the election of Obama is a "historic event" for America and "We hope that he will use his good offices to resolve Kashmir issue in its historic perspective."

Geelani, who is undergoing treatment in Delhi, said bilateral talks between India and Pakistan have failed to deliver in the past.

Geelani also hoped that the election of Obama would bring a positive change in the foreign policy of that country.

"There is a need for a change in Americian foreign policy... It has to abandon use of brute force in other countries," he said.

"We will also welcome him if he puts an immediate end to the killings in Pakistani soil where the bombing by Nato forces deployed in Afghanistan have killed innocent civilians on the pretext of fighting Al-Qaeda or terrorism," he said.

Congratulating Obama on his election, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) said his recent statements with regard to Kashmir are encouraging.

"Kashmiris are hopeful that he will use good offices in resolution of Kashmir issue," senior vice president of JKLF Bashir Ahmad Bhat said.

Acting chairman of Jammu Kashmir Peoples League Mukhtar Ahmad Waza also felicitated Obama and reiterated that the newly elected president would uphold the avowal which he has made during the election campaigns.

"The peace in South Asia rests with honourable and durable solution of Kashmir which is at present nuclear flashpoint between the two nuclear neighbours of the sub-continent (India and Pakistan) because peace begets prosperity, development and tranquility," he said in a statement.

 

Source : DNA