Killing terrorists won’t help: Soz
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 25
Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz on Monday argued for a vigorous dialogue to address the Kashmir issue and said sending more Army, killing terrorists and shedding blood would not help.
Speaking at the launch of his book, “Kashmir: Glimpses of History and the Story of Struggle”, he said, “Azadi cannot be achieved in Kashmir, but the Constitution of India should accommodate Kashmiris.”
Even as ex-PM Manmohan Singh and ex-minister P Chidambaram skipped the event after Soz recently spoke sympathetically of the pro-freedom sentiment in the Valley, the latter on Monday denied having ever batted for “azadi” in the Valley.
He blamed the media for distorting his remarks. “I never said that I support azadi in Kashmir. That was a media creation. I was only quoting then Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf on this matter. I know and we all know, azadi cannot be achieved in Kashmir, but the Constitution should accommodate Kashmiris,” he said.
Earlier, Soz said India’s first Home Minister Sardar Patel “had offered Kashmir in lieu of Hyderabad to Pakistan’s first PM Liaqat Ali” and that “small-minded cabinet ministers did not let Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision on Kashmir succeed”.
Congress had earlier condemned Soz’s pro-azadi remarks saying “cheap gimmicks to sell books cannot alter the reality that Kashmir is an integral part of India”.
