Hurriyat leaders in
Delhi
Tribune News Service NEW
DELHI, Aug 21 — The Chairman of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference,
Mr Abdul Ghani Bhat, is arriving in the Capital on a brief visit. He
is accompanied by senior leaders, including Mr Syed Ali Shah Geelani,
former Chairman of the conference. The
visit is taking place at a time when the Hurriyat has offered to open
separate lines of communication with India and Pakistan to resolve the
vexed Kashmir issue. Amid reports that there are differences among the
Hurriyat leadership on the dialogue proposal, the Centre seemed to
have adopted a policy of wait and watch. The Centre is yet to come out
with a categorical response to the Hurriyat’s proposal. A
Hurriyat spokesman said here the Chairman and other leaders were
coming to Delhi to visit the JKLF leader, Mr Yasin Malik, who is
undergoing treatment in a hospital here. Declining to give a time
frame for the Hurriyat chairman’s visit, the spokesman said details
would be known only after the leaders arrived. Though the Chairman is
arriving ostensibly on a brief visit, he could be in Delhi till some
concrete proposal on the talks materialises. During
their stay here the Hurriyat leaders are likely to gauge the response
of the Indian Government and international community to the proposal
of separate talks with India and Pakistan. With the Kashmiris
supporting moves towards peace, pressure is mounting on all groups in
the valley to find a lasting solution to the issue which has kept the
state in turmoil for more than a decade. There
have been reports of a renewed efforts of a dialogue between the
Hizbul Mujahideen and the government and also of a possible split in
the largest militant organisation in the state. The Centre has made it
known several times that it is willing to talk to any group working
towards peace in Kashmir. It also expressed the hope that channels of
communication with the Hizbul would reopen soon. The
Hurriyat chief’s visit, significant for its timing, can achieve a
major breakthrough on talks in Kashmir. The Hurriyat had faced
criticism over its vacillating stand on the Hizbul’s recent
ceasefire. After initially calling the ceasefire as hasty, the
conference had welcomed it before reverting back to its first stand.
There have been signs that some Kashmiri groups, including a section
of the Hizbul, are thinking of taking a stand independent of the ISI
to move forward on the Kashmir issue.
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