Yasin Malik takes on Modi govt, says 'not hopeful of outcome on Kashmir issue'

Srinagar: Expressing disappointment over Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's stand on the Kashmir issue, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik on Wednesday dubbed the fresh dialogue between India and Pakistan as one initiated due to compulsion and said that it would not yield any positive outcome.

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir are getting threats on a daily basis. The Muslims are suffering here," Malik said.

"Unfortunately when the rallies go on, they have to face heavy firing. The students, who conducted non-violent protests earlier, were arrested and sent to jails. They are innocent students. Their families have been harassed during the interrogation. They have been forced to become criminals and pick guns," he added.

Malik asserted there is no freedom of expression in Kashmir.

"From the day this government has been formed at the Centre, they are trying to create big issues eventually leading to confrontation. The public commitment and public discourse of this government is not to have any talk on the Kashmir issue. I don't think that the talks of Sushma Swaraj with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz would reap in any benefits and solve the Kashmir issue," he said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is presently on a visit to Pakistan for the Heart of Asia Conference, the two-day ministerial meeting on Afghanistan, which began in Islamabad yesterday.

She had yesterday met her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz at the dinner hosted for 'Heart of Asia' delegates. She is expected to meet Sharif later in the day.

Swaraj's visit comes two days after talks between the National Security Advisors and Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan in Bangkok, where they discussed terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir and a range of key bilateral issues besides agreeing to carry forward the constructive engagement.