Self-rule as a solution to the decades-old dispute between India and Pakistan over occupied Kashmir is a non-starter unless troops from both sides are withdrawn, a top Kashmiri militant leader said in comments published on Friday.
President Pervez Musharraf, moderate Kashmiri freedom fighters and few pro-India Kashmiri leaders have been projecting self-rule as a possible solution to the dispute over the Himalayan region.
"The self-rule proposal cannot be implemented unless India and Pakistan withdraw troops from both parts of Kashmir," said Syed Salahuddin, the supreme commander of the region's largest rebel group Hizbul Mujahedin.
"We will encourage any move that will lead to withdrawal of troops from both parts of Kashmir," he said in an interview published in local newspapers.
Tension in the region has been exacerbated by an anti-India insurgency by Islamic freedom fighters, which began in 1989.
The revolt is led by Hizbul, which wants Pakistan incorporated into Pakistan, and Salahuddin tops the security force list of "most wanted militants" for fomenting the violence.
"Once there will be complete withdrawal of troops and Kashmiris will take over the governance, then it will be a self-rule," said Salahuddin, who is based in the Azad Kashmir. Self-rule however was not the total solution, he added.
"It is a part of the solution process and complete solution is right to self determination," he said referring to his group's call for a plebiscite that would allow Kashmiris to decide if they wanted the state to be part of India, part of Pakistan or independent.