Srinagar, Nov 8 (IANS): CPI-M MLA Yusuf Tarigami on Wednesday said he told the central government's special representative Dineshwar Sharma that peace in Jammu and Kashmir can only result out of "genuine and meaningful parleys".

Addressing a joint press conference with Hakim Yaseen, leader of the Peoples Democratic Front (PDF), and Ghulam Hassan Mir, leader of the Democratic Party Nationalist (DPN), after they met Sharma, Tarigami said peace cannot be made a pre-condition for a dialogue process.

"There are some constitutional guarantees like Article 370 which have been given to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Although there has been heavy and unconstitutional erosion of this article, yet it has to be protected as a confidence building measure for the people to trust the sincerity and genuineness of the dialogue process," he said.

Tarigami said all stakeholders, including the separatist leaders, will have to be taken on board if a dialogue process had to be meaningful.

"The government of India will have to take serious steps to carry forward the dialogue process," Tarigami said.

"We told Sharma that the suffering of the people here is not because of a law and order problem but due to the political uncertainty which cannot be addressed through use of force.

"We told Sharma that in addition to those who try to discredit his mission locally, there have been confusing statements from some functionaries of the government of India. Those have undermined the present mission," he said.

Sharma met the three politicians at Tarigami's residence in Srinagar.