Hakeem Irfan
Srinagar, Nov 19: Cautioning Hurriyat leadership against entering into any dialogue process with New Delhi before the government of India extended certain CBMs, President Shriromani Akali Dal Simran Jeet Singh Mann Thursday suggested India that it could begin with restoration of pre-1953 position for Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a news conference here, Mann suggested Hurriyat to pressurize New Delhi to accept their preconditions before entering into parleys with it. “India should first start demilitarization, repeal draconian laws, release prisoners and restore pre-1953 position, all of which are constitutional. These conditions should be set for the initiation of dialogue process.”

Mann, who was in Srinagar to meet the separatist leadership, said New Delhi wants to dilute and discredit Kashmir’s resistance leadership “like they did to Nagas and Sikhs”.
“India just wants to dilute and discredit resistance leadership by involving them in dialogue process. New Delhi has already done it to Naga and Sikh leadership,” said Mann who is known for his criticism of New Delhi and support to the Kashmir movement.
He said separatist leadership should take a lesson from what happened to Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. “Even today if security guards are removed from his grave, people will storm it and destroy everything there.”
Stating that India had been turned into a ‘Hindu-Rashtra’, Mann said: “The genocide of Sikhs in 1984 and of Muslims of Gujarat are glaring examples.”
He said Sikhs were an important party to Kashmir resolution. “Sikhs have faced the situation bravely without migrating to any other place. The community was not involved in treason as well.”
Mann pointed at the growing crisis of water resources in the region and held the Indus Water Treaty and other such treaties responsible for it. “Dams constructed anywhere should be under UN observation. The war for water can be more dangerous than a nuclear war.”
About the killing of Sikhs in Chattisinghpora in 2000, Mann referred to a letter forwarded by his party to the former President of India, A P J Abdul Kalam: “It was done by Indian troops.”
He said this was also accepted by the then President of the United States, Bill Clinton in an introduction of the former US Secretary of the State, Madeleine Korbel Albright’s book ‘The Mighty and the Almighty – Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs’. Condemning human rights violations in Kashmir, Mann said: “What does the arrest of 80-year-old ailing Geelani signify?”