M A I N   N E W S

APHC selects 5-man team to Pak
Bhat, Yaseen Malik excluded
From Ehsan Fazili

SRINAGAR, Jan 11 — The Hurriyat Conference today selected a team of five executive members for its proposed visit to Pakistan for holding talks with the leadership there. The Chairman, Mr Abdul Gani Bhat, and JKLF leader Mohammad Yaseen Malik have not been included in the team.

The announcement was made at the end of a six-hour meeting of the seven-member executive committee of the Hurriyat Conference at its headquarters in Rajbagh here today.

The team members are two former chairmen Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq and Jammat-e-Islami leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mr Abdul Gani Lone, Shiekh Abdul Aziz and Shia leader Moulvi Abbas Ansari.

“The ball is now in the court of the Government of India”, an APHC spokesman told TNS at the end of the meeting. He said the team members were now waiting for the issuance of passports. He said if the visit of the APHC team did not materialise on the proposed date, January 15, the executive would meet again to decide on its future strategy.

Talking to waiting mediapersons, JKLF leader Mohammad Yaseen Malik said the team was selected by APHC Chairman Abdul Gani Bhat. He had been authorised by the executive council to do so.

The meeting was attended by only five of the seven top executive members of the Hurriyat Conference, the fourth of its kind in the wake of the ceasefire announced by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Senior Jamaat leader and former APHC Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani is undergoing treatment in a hospital here for heart ailment. People’s Conference Chairman Abdul Gani Lone is also undergoing treatment in New Delhi. While the Jamaat-e-Islami was represented by Mr Ashraf Sahrai, the People’s Conference was represented by Mr Hafeezullah Makhdoomi in place of Mr Abdul Gani Lone at the meeting.

The meeting was presided over by the Chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, and attended by top executive members Moulvi Umar Farooq, Moulvi Abbas Ansari, Mr Mohammad Yaseen Malik and Sheikh Abdul Aziz.

During its last meeting on January 2, the executive council had authorised the Chairman to select the team to visit Pakistan to involve the militant leaders there and the Pakistani leadership in the “resolution of the Kashmir issue”. This decision was taken as only four of the seven members of the executive committee had valid documents.

Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, who represents the Ithadul Muslimeen in the Hurriyat, had said before the meeting that “if passports are not issued to all seven executive members, we will not go to Pakistan”.

Similar views were expressed by Mr Mohammad Ashraf Sahrai of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Malik to get passport for USA
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 11 — The Centre has decided to issue a passport to Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yaseen Malik to enable him to travel to the USA and UK for medical treatment, an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said here today.

Mr Malik, who had applied for the travel documents in September last year, is the fourth Hurriyat Executive member to be issued the passport.

The spokesperson said Mr Malik, whose three valves of the heart are damaged, was being given the document following a request from him.