Muslim clerics meet Rajnath, propose to take out peace march in Kashmir

Clerics said that sufism is the only way forward in Kashmir, they dismissed the prospect of any talks with separatists

A delegation of Muslim clerics of the Barelvi school met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday on the Kashmir issue and urged him to lead a delegation of Sufi scholars to the Valley while offering to take out a peace march there themselves.

"We met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and proposed that he should lead a delegation of Sufi scholars and clerics to Kashmir. We would try to instil some sense in the minds of stone pelting youths," Maulana Ansar Raza of Garib Nawaz Foundation, who led the delegation, told IANS.

Raza said the 60-odd Sufis from various khanqahs across India plan to take out a peace march in Kashmir with the Quran in one hand and the 'Tiranga' (national tricolour) in the other.

He stressed that Sufism is the way forward in Kashmir.

"Sufism is the path of love and forgiveness. We would speak with the stone-pelting youth, and would try to convince them in the light of Quran, Hadith and traditions of great Sufi saints to abandon violence," Raza said.

He, however, dismissed the prospect of any talks with separatists.

"How can we talk to people who are raising 'Pakistan zindabad' slogans? We are very clear that we would not go at their doorstep only to be turned away by them, like they did to a handful of people recently," he said.

Calling the members of all-party delegation who went to meet Hurriyat leaders on Monday as "chai khor", Raza said that they should not have broken away from the delegation and gone to meet the separatists.

"Why should we go to them? Kashmiri kahwa tou Dilli me bhi milta hai (Kashmiri kahwa is available in Delhi too)," he said.

Supporting the government's stance on Kashmir, including to review the facilities given to separatist leaders, Raza said that a solution would certainly come out.

"The government of India's policy and response towards the Kashmir situation is fine, and a solution would definitely come out. Kashmir hamara hai, hamara rahega (Kashmir is ours, and would remain ours)," he said.