APHC team stopped from going to NY
NEW DELHI, Sept 25 — The government today stopped a four-member delegation of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference from going to New York to attend a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Countries.While the leader of the six-member delegation, Maulvi Umar Farooq, left for New York on Sept 22, the other four members were prevented from taking the Gulf Airways flight at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

APHC chief hurt in clash with police
SRINAGAR, Sept 25 — Life was disrupted here today in response to a general strike called by government employees, while the police lobbed teargas shells and fired in the air to disperse a procession led by Hurriyat Conference leaders in the Jamia Masjid area this afternoon.

PDS items 'being supplied' to ultras
JAMMU, Sept 25 — The state BJP has urged the state government to take steps to check the supply of foodgrains and eatables from ration depots to militants camping in the forest belts of Poonch, Rajouri, Doda and Udhampur districts.

APHC team stopped from going to NY
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 25 — The government today stopped a four-member delegation of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) from going to New York to attend a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC).

While the leader of the six-member delegation, Maulvi Umar Farooq, and another member, Mr Abdul Majid Bandey, left for New York on September 22, the other four members — Maulana Abbas Ansari, Mr Ghulam Rasool Dar, Mr Firdous Asime and Mr Shabbir Ahmed Dar — were prevented from taking the Gulf Airways flight at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Maulana Farooq has already reached New York and has come into sharp media focus. Mr Farooq’s meeting with the Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, and other expatriate Kashmiri leaders has been widely covered by the Pakistani media.

The APHC executive had decided to send a six-member delegation headed by Mr Farooq earlier this month and it was collectively agreed that the delegation would leave for New York together from New Delhi. But Mr Farooq’s leaving for New York on a United Airlines flight on September 22 and Mr Bandey taking the Kuwait Airways flight on the same day has resulted in raising of eyebrows within the Hurriyat circles, with many leaders asking as why the former chose to go alone.

Dissensions-riven APHC is caught in a fix, internal Hurriyat sources said, adding that Mr Farooq alone is being successively favoured by the government to go abroad and others are prevented.

Mr Farooq has been striking an independent line for the past couple of months, particularly since he was removed from the chairmanship of the APHC as his party — the Awami Action Committee (AAC) — has been organising activities separately and has not been joining the APHC joint programmes. The AAC, whose sphere of influence was earlier restricted to Srinagar alone, has also been trying to spread its activities to other areas of valley and the Jammu region.

Mr Farooq’s independent posturing and getting media attention has resulted in heart-burning in other leaders, including the present APHC Chairman, Mr S.A.S. Gillani.

Mr Farooq’s independent line became glaring in the last executive meeting of the organisation on September 2 when he launched a bitter attack on one of the prominent Hurriyat leaders, Mr A.G. Lone, for his statement inviting Taliban members to Jammu and Kashmir, sources within the Hurriyat said.

The former APHC Chairman castigated Mr Lone, saying that the latter’s stand seriously jeopardised the Hurriyat’s image as it came to be branded as a fundamentalist organisation. Mr Farooq asked his Hurriyat colleagues if they had forgotten the history of Kashmir. When Afghans had invaded Kashmir, they had destroyed the spirit and essence of Kashmiriat.

As a result of Mr Farooq’s severe criticism of Mr Lone, the latter was isolated at the meeting, with others joining the former. Even Mr Gillani conceded, saying that Mr Lone should refrain from issuing such statements.

Mr Farooq’s initiative emboldened even the firebrand youth leader, Mr Yasin Malik, when he attacked Mr Gillani for his interview to the Reuters news agency in which he had said on record that the Kashmiris have only two options —either to remain with India or to go to Pakistan.

Mr Malik said that Mr Gillani’s stand, particularly in the capacity of being the organisation’s chairman, had undermined the APHC’s credibility. He said Hurriyat’s supporters and sympathisers had started saying that the APHC’s demand for Azadi was a hoax and only meant for leaders’ personal interests. The sacrifice of about 50,000 Kashmiris had gone waste, Mr Malik said at the meeting, adding that the APHC was formed with the basic purpose of ensuring the right of self- determination for the people of Kashmir.

Mr Malik further opposed any support to Mr Nawaz Sharif’s decision to turn Pakistan into a Islamic state as it was against the grain of Kashmiriat.

Sources said that Hurriyat’s internal dissensions are bound to come to fore when Mr Farooq returns from his trip from New York after attending the OIC meeting beginning from October 4.

APHC chief hurt in clash with police
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Sept 25 — Life was disrupted here today in response to a general strike called by government employees, while the police lobbed teargas shells and fired in the air to disperse a procession led by Hurriyat Conference leaders in the Jamia Masjid area this afternoon.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman of the separatist All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) was admitted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, here after he was injured in a ding-dong battle between the police and processionists led by the Hurriyat leaders at Jamia Masjid.

The APHC chairman led a procession from the Jamia Masjid (Main Mosque) at Nowhatta in the interior of the capital city after Friday prayers. The police stopped the processionists from moving ahead and lobbed teargas shells.

Reports said that a number of shells were lobbed to disperse the processionists raising slogans. The police dispersed the mob, while Syed Ali Shah Geelani was injured and admitted into the SKIMS, Soura.

Earlier addressing the Friday congregation at the Jamia Masjid, the APHC leaders including the chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mohammad Yasin Malik, Javed Ahmad and Dr G.M. Hubbi, announced that it would continue to take out such processions in support of its demand for the "right of self determination for the people of Kashmir" and tripartite talks to "solve the Kashmir dispute".

A number of the government offices remained closed today in the capital city in response to the call given by the Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees Conference, Srinagar in protest against what it called the human rights violations in Kashmir, corruption and anti-employee attitude of the state government. Most of the shops and business establishments were closed and there was thin traffic on the roads. Banks, educational institutions and other offices were also closed in the capital.

PDS items 'being supplied' to ultras
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Sept 25 — The state BJP has urged the state government to take steps to check the supply of foodgrains and eatables from ration depots to militants camping in the forest belts of Poonch, Rajouri, Doda and Udhampur districts.

The BJP said during the past several years a sizeable quantity of foodgrains meant for public distribution had found its way to hideouts of militants.

In a statement issued here yesterday BJP leader Vaid Vishnu Dutt, MP, said during the summer militants had succeeded in piling up foodgrains and other essential commodities in their hideouts which allowed them to survive during the winter. Reports indicated that there was a secret nexus between some government agencies and militants, with the result the already weak public distribution system had collapsed.

The BJP leader said some private retailers and wholesalers had been forced to make available foodgrains and other essential items to militants. He requested Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah to get the matter probed and punish the guilty.

Once the supply of foodgrains to the militants was totally stopped, they would either starve to death or surrender.