Srinagar: Resistance leader and chairman of a faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in an affirmative tone has expressed the amalgam’s willingness to engage in a dialogue on Kashmir.

Signalling the APHC’s pro-dialogue stance, the Srinagar-based head priest, has sent out a tweet: “importance for finding a resolution of Kashmir dispute acceptable to all parties most importantly to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Hurriyat leadership will extend its full support to every serious effort aimed at resolving Kashmir so that peace prevails and bloodshed stops”.

importance for finding a resolution of Kashmir dispute acceptable to all parties most importantly to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.Hurriyat leadership will extend its full support to every serious effort aimed at resolving Kashmir so that peace prevails and bloodshed stops pic.twitter.com/yTzAwrQpVx

— Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) May 25, 2018

This is a significant development as India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also suggested that New Delhi government was ready to engage with Pakistan and the Hurriyat.

Mr. Singh said that “India is ready to talk to the Hurriyat Conference if they are ready to talk.”

He was speaking to Hindi television channel Aaj Tak during a programme organised in New Delhi to mark completion of four years of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“If Hurriyat is ready to talk, we have no problem, we are ready to talk to anyone. Even if Pakistan comes for a dialogue, we are ready for it,” Mr. Singh told Aaj Tak.

Pro-dialogue tweet by Mr. Umar Farooq, a statement endorsing dialogue by Mr. Singh and Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat hinting at extending cessation of anti-militancy operations even after Ramzan are all signs that something is being done through back channel diplomacy and Track-II dialogue to start a conversation on Kashmir in the absence of violence from all sides.