Srinagar, May 16 ( UNI) Kashmir’s chief cleric and Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday termed Kashmir as a nuclear flashpoint which can explode anytime.

“In the last few days, we have gone through another harrowing experience that this festering conflict ignited, hours close to an all-out war between two nuclear countries. Even the ‘limited escalation’ was enough to destroy the lives of those living along and across the LOC in J&K. Dozens of precious lives lost, homes and livelihood destroyed,” Mirwaiz said while addressing Friday congregational prayers at historic Jamia mosque in old Srinagar.
He said the image of the smiling twins, the 12-year-old Zain and Urwa, killed in Poonch cross-border firing, will continue to haunt.
“How their mother is coping with it while their father is battling for life in the hospital, tears the heart. The pain runs deep,” he said
“For India and Pakistan, it is a territorial issue, but for the people of J&K living the reality of this conflict daily, it is a bleeding wound that refuses to heal. How long are we going to suffer and live in fear and uncertainty? While everyone is talking about Kashmir, no one is talking to Kashmir—to its people, those who live here. What do we want for ourselves, our dreams for our future generations, our yearning for peace? Will our wounds ever heal? Will this conflict ever be resolved?,” he asked.

“With each such episode, the problem gets more difficult. Military brinkmanship only leads to disaster, as we know and just saw, and to more arms sales, never to peace. But do India and Pakistan want peace, or one-upmanship, people of Kashmir wonder,” he said.
Mirwaiz said people of Jammu and Kashmir want peace and not war.
“We want resolution, not continuation of the conflict. It is our earnest hope that the ceasefire just announced by the DGMOs of both sides till the 18th of this month becomes permanent. One wonders: if the DGMOs of both sides can talk and reach an agreement, what is preventing India and Pakistan from doing so? But stating the obvious is considered anti-national in present times,” he said.

Mirwaiz also paid condolences and sympathies to all the bereaved families who lost their loved ones to the senseless escalation of the conflict.
“No words can compensate for their loss. For the injured, we pray for their quick recovery,” he said.

UNI MJR BD