Ansari hopes talks on IOK to continue

14 May, 2004

Hurriyat leaders said on Thursday they hoped peace talks with India over the occupied Kashmir would continue even with a change of government in New Delhi.
"I hope talks will continue and I hope the change of government at the centre will not make any difference as far as the solution of the Kashmir problem is concerned," APHC Chairman Maulana Abbas Ansari told Reuters.
"Dialogue is the only way. Bloodshed will lead us nowhere. Finally, India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris will have to sit together and find a permanent solution."
India's main opposition party, Congress, its allies and the communists who have pledged support to it, seem set to form a government as they are leading in 285 seats in the 545-member lower house of parliament, comfortably more than the half-line mark required to rule.

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