Pro-Indian Kashmiri Politician Questions India's Presence at Taliban Talks

SRINAGAR -- Pro-Indian Politician in Indian-administered Kashmir on Friday questioned New Delhi's participation in a dialogue on Afghanistan in the presence of Taliban representatives while holding no talks with stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir. 

"If 'non-official' participation in a dialogue that includes the Taliban is acceptable to the Modi government why not a non-official dialogue with non-mainstream stake holders in J&K? Why not a non-official dialogue centered around J&K's eroded autonomy & its restoration?" National Conference leader and former CM of the state, Omar Abdullah tweeted.

India had on Thursday said it would participate in the dialogue hosted by Russia at a "non-official level" in Moscow. 

The Moscow-format meeting on Afghanistan will be held on November 9 and representatives of the Afghan Taliban radical movement will take part in it, the Russian Foreign Ministry had said last week.

We are aware that the Russian Federation is hosting a meeting in Moscow on 9 November on Afghanistan. Our participation at the meeting will be at the non-official level, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

He said India supports all efforts at peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan that will preserve unity and plurality, and bring security, stability and prosperity to the country.

Those Demanding Autonomy Doing Disservice To India: BJP

Those demanding autonomy are doing disservice to the country, the BJP said on Friday as it hit back at former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah saying the government was not in talks with the Taliban in any form and that India had been invited as part of a reconciliation team for peace moves in Afghanistan.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's remarks came a day after Abdullah slammed the Centre for talking to the Taliban at a non-official level while not doing so by engaging with the Kashmiri separatist leadership,

"There is no talks with Taliban. India was simply invited as part of a reconciliation team for peace measures in Afghanistan," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said here.

Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson confirmed that India will attend, albeit at a non-official level, a multilateral meeting in Moscow on Afghanistan where the Afghan Taliban will also be present.

This is the first time India will be sharing the table with the Afghan Taliban on issues of peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Attacking the Abdullahs, the BJP leader said: "As far as these people are concerned, Omar and Farooq time and again have been clutching to excuses to demand autonomy. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. Those demanding autonomy are doing disservice to the country."