Srinagar: The BJP feels Syed Ali Geelani, the veteran separatist leader, is looking for “ways and approach for dialogue.” The party literally accused Geelani of lying when he had said yesterday that an Intelligence Bureau official had approached him to begin a round of political talks with New Delhi.
“I do not think that it is correct,” said Ashok Kaul, the BJP general secretary (Organizations). He said Geelani should engage with Dineshwar Sharma, the interlocutor appointed by the Indian government, as such issues are “political and can’t be discussed at any other level”
On Thursday night, Geelani was quoted by his spokesperson as saying that he had declined the offer of talks made by an IB official to him. “GeelaniSahab declined the offer, saying that until the Kashmir dispute is addressed in its historical perspective and India acknowledges the disputed status of the Kashmir and starts demilitarization to hold a referendum, holding any talks carries no meaning.” Geelani said the offer was nothing more than a tactic to buy time by New Delhi.
Sunil Sethi, the party’s chief spokesperson, said that the offer of dialogue is made at political level and not on official level. “It is prerogative of political leadership to offer dialogue to someone,” he said. “I doubt the claim by Geelani.”
Sethi said that there is no question that talks with anybody will be held outside the Constitution of India. “We are saying it today and it is the stand of every government that there is not any possibility of talks outside Indian Constitution,” he said.