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Onkar Singh in New Delhi
The Jammu and Kashmir government's nominee, Gulam Mohiuddin Shah, who held talks with the Centre's interlocutor Arun Jaitley on Thursday on the issue of granting autonomy to the state, said that the state government was prepared to take a 'flexible stand' on the issue.
Talking to rediff.com in New Delhi on Friday before he flew back to Srinagar, Shah said, "We are merely asking for what we had before."
"We want the same Kashmir that has been taken away from us," he added.
Asked if the state government was prepared to change its stand regarding restoration of the pre-1953 status, under which the Union government had control over defence, external affairs, communications and currency, Shah said, "The date does not matter."
"It does not matter whether you refer to it by pre-1965 or pre-53 or pre-47. I have explained to you that we are asking for the restoration of the same Kashmir that has been taken away from us," he said.
He refused to elaborate what he meant by 'we want what we had', saying 'everything is there in the autonomy resolution' passed by the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly, which the Centre rejected.
He denied that the offer of talks from the Union government had anything to do with forthcoming assembly election saying, "It is a matter of coincidence that the Centre decided to appoint Jaitley to hold talks with the state government. They asked us to come for talks and we have come. There is nothing more to it."
Jammu and Kashmir government sources told rediff.com that Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah wants restoration of the titles of prime minister for chief minister and Sadar-e-Riyasat for the governor.
BJP sources said that the Centre is 'favourable' to this demand.
The next round of talks between Jaitley and Shah would be held in New Delhi on August 9.
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