By Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL South Asia Correspondent

NEW DELHI, March 4 (IslamOnline.net) - Elated over former U.S. president Bill Clinton's suggestion to resolve Kashmir issue on Irish model, Hurriyat Conference Monday, March 3, said it would dispatch a letter to Clinton asking him to take up the role of a mediator for the final settlement of Kashmir issue, reported Kashmir Times Tuesday, March 4.

The paper added that Hurriyat Conference is also sending a high-level delegation to New Delhi next week to meet foreign diplomats in order to persuade them to play a role in the resolution of Kashmir issue.

Clinton had on Sunday, March 2, advocated the Irish model to resolve the festering Kashmir problem and urged India and Pakistan to resume "direct talks".

Clinton's suggestion to solve Kashmir around the Irish model has caused a stir here in the political circles but the Indian government is yet to respond officially.

India, on the other hand, has accused the United States of "weakness" for failing to convince Pakistan to stop its alleged support for fighters in Kashmir.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told parliament Monday that if the United States cannot persuade Pakistan it shows Washington's weakness and he will keep this in mind while developing future strategies.

This concealed threat came a day after both Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke on Kashmir and argued for an immediate resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan.

"There is a need for a dialogue to take place between Pakistan and India on all outstanding issues between the two nations, specially the issue of Kashmir," Powell said adding that "The United States will continue to do everything we can to get a dialogue started."

"We have demonstrated clearly and rather forcefully in the last year and a half that matters in that part of the world, in South Asia, are of enormous interest to us," Powell said.

Hurriyat Conference, the 24-party alliance of Kashmiri organizations, is meeting Wednesday, at Srinagar to discuss the suggestions of Bill Clinton and formulate a comprehensive policy for the reaction on the issue.

Former Hurriyat Conference chairman and chief priest (Mirwaiz) of Kashmir Umar Farooq said Clinton's suggestion has once again vindicated the Hurriyat stand and put the focus right back on Kashmir issue, which has been described as the most dangerous region in the world by the former U.S. president.

"New Delhi projected the recently held elections as a solution to the Kashmir issue. It had given an impression that Kashmiris have elected their government for the redressal of their problems.

"But Clinton's remarks at this point has poured cold water on Delhi''s policy. And once again that global community has realized the perils of Kashmir conflict which can spill over to a war", Umar Farooq said.

The Mirwaiz said Clinton's suggestion is worth consideration.

Soldier stands guard as children play in Srinagar

"We would discuss it in our meeting tomorrow (Wednesday). This is a good suggestion and we should work on it. The Irish problem is more alike Kashmir. And all the Hurriyat leaders should give a thought to this suggestion", he said.

The former Hurriyat Conference chairman said former U.S. president Jimmy Carter was ready to help in the resolution of Kashmir issue.

He said some members of Carter Institute were trying to visit Kashmir to take an on-the-spot-view of the situation.

The Mirwaiz said the Hurriyat Conference will launch a major diplomatic exercise to press for a dialogue for the resolution of Kashmir issue.

He said the leaders would visit New Delhi and meet ambassadors and high commissioners there to press for the early resolution of Kashmir issue.

Carter will be visiting India and Pakistan this year.

According to reports in U.S. and Pakistani media, he will place a consolidated report containing specific suggestions before Washington, Islamabad and New Delhi.

According to the reports, former Pakistani army chief Jahangir Karamat, India’s Kashmir Committee chairman and former federal law minister Ram Jethmalani and U.S.-based Kashmiri businessmen Farooq Kathwari are playing a crucial role in facilitating the Carter mission.

Kathwari "secretly" visited Kashmir with U.S. ambassador to New Delhi Robert Blackwill on December 2, according to a report in Kashmir Times.

Kathwari's visit assumed significance in view of his being an ardent supporter of an "independent" Kashmir and the clout he is said to enjoy in the American administration.

In February 2000, Kathwari’s Kashmir Study Group (KSG) proposed the creation of an independent state out of the Muslim-majority areas of Jammu and Kashmir, that is leaving to India parts of Jammu and Ladakh regions which have Hindu and Buddhist majority.

Backed by U.S. experts, the KSG report "Kashmir A Way Forward" outlined five proposals for the creation of what it called "sovereign Muslim-majority entity" with its own constitution, citizenship, flag and a legislature which would deal with all matters except defense and foreign affairs, said a report in Kashmir Times on December 10.

It is not clear if the Carter mission is being taken with the Bush administration’s blessings.

Carter’s relationship with the Bush administration has been adverse on domestic issues and Middle East policies.

To set the stage the Carter Center last year held a seminar in Washington where different scholars and retired diplomats presented their viewpoints to find out a way to resolve Kashmir.

All this goes against New Delhi's wishes. India not only rejects any foreign role in the issue, it even refuses to talk to Pakistan although it is bound to do so according to the Shimla Agreement of 1972.

At present India is trying to ward off any foreign pressure by chanting the "cross-border terrorism" mantra and argues that if such intervention was eliminated "Kashmir will be a peaceful state within India."

Pakistan, on the other hand, claims that President Pervez Musharraf does not control militant outfits and would not be able to stop infiltrations.

Indian soldier lays slain Kashmir fightera at army base

Islamabad says India needed to provide space to Pakistan for controlling the militant outfits and that if appropriate measures were not taken, India and Pakistan would face a bigger chaos and prospects of disintegration.

Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (which strives for an independent Kashmir) accuses both India and Pakistan to be duplicitous about Kashmir.

This view was echoed by American experts who believed that neither India nor Pakistan would give up their respective positions and so the only solution was to establish a process by which Kashmir emerged as an independent state.

Most American experts do not believe that the U.N. resolutions are relevant any more or that they can yield any solution.

In a significant statement carried by Kashmir Times on January 2, prominent separatist leader and Mahaz-i-Azadi patron Mohammad Azam Inquilabi said that the "low intensity guerilla warfare" in Kashmir is serving the interests of the United States.

55-year-old Inquilabi, a pioneer militant leader who renounced gun in 1994, asked the militant leadership to look into militancy's merits and de-merits.

He asked the militant leadership to identify what this low profile guerrilla warfare is achieving.

"Both India and Pakistan can sustain the present level of militancy…But we are small ethnic group which cannot sustain it. It should not be construed that we are caught by fatigue. We have a resolve to fight politically for 200 years", he said.