M A I N   N E W S

Mirwaiz offers to step down as talks fail

Srinagar, May 10
Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq today offered to step down from the post after 15-day unity talks with hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani failed to make any headway.

‘’I am ready to leave the Hurriyat chairman’s post if the other group (Geelani) reciprocates positively to our efforts to unite under one banner,’’ Mirwaiz Farooq told a crowded news conference here.

The Mirwaiz, flanked by other three Hurriyat Executive Council members, said he was ready to disband the present structure of the amalgam so that the groups which had left the conglomerate return to its fold.

‘’We are ready to reopen the debate on the formation and representation in the united Hurriyat which will also have a new constitution. We will consider suggestions and proposals from all groups on the issue to form a combined front which will represent the people of Jammu and Kashmir at the talks with India and Pakistan,’’ he said at the end of two-day meeting of the Executive Council, the General Council and the Working Committee here.

The announcement comes a day after Pakistan asked the warring factions of the Hurriyat Conference to expedite the unity efforts as ‘’a solution to the Kashmir issue was nearer than ever before’’.

‘’It is very important that unity comes as soon as possible. We hope that the Hurriyat will be a united body as it was before,’’ Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said in Islamabad yesterday.

“We have held talks with several groups in the past 15 days to work towards bringing all separatist leaders on one platform. Unfortunately, there is no headway so far,’’ Mirwaiz Farooq said.

However, he made a fresh appeal to the hardline faction to soften its stand and launch renewed efforts to restore the status of the erstwhile Hurriyat Conference.

“We have to leave our rigid stand and go beyond our stated positions to achieve the ultimate goal of unity in the larger interests of the Kashmir cause. Even the people are looking forward to a united Hurriyat,’’ he added.

Hurriyat sources said the talks to bring together warring Hurriyat groups failed over Mr Geelani’s decision to form his own committee without consulting the moderates.

Mr Geelani’s decision on May 4 to form his own consultative committee to work out modalities for the reunion without consulting the moderates have angered Hurriyat leaders Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat and Bilal Ghani Lone, they added.

The sources said both were upset over the inclusion of two leaders, Mr G.N. Sumjhi and Mr G.N. Hubbi, in the committee formed by Mr Geelani.

Taking a dig at Mr Geelani, Mirwaiz Farooq said the unity among different separatist groups could not be brought about by issuing statements or announcing committees and sub-committees. He assured that the united Hurriyat would have representation from all shades of opinion.

Mirwaiz Farooq asserted that the unification process would be renewed and talks would be held with the hardline faction of the Hurriyat and other groups in the coming week.

The Mirwaiz expressed the hope that Mr Geelani would seriously consider his proposal and agree to rejoin the Hurriyat Conference which would have a new constitution.

The crucial two-day meeting of the moderate Hurriyat Conference was called to discuss the outcome of talks held to forge unity among the warring separatist groups and also to chalk out its future strategy on the proposed dialogue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the visit of amalgam leaders to Pakistan and the PoK.

Besides, Mirwaiz Farooq, Prof Bhat, Maulna Ansari and Bilal Lone (all Executive Council members), the General Council and Working Committee members also attended the meeting, the sources said. — UNI

‘Doors open to Hurriyat’
Tribune News Service

Aboard ‘Tanjore’, Air India, May 10
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today that the BJP-led NDA had not yet reconciled to the fact that they were out of power as they continue to obstruct the democratic process. He reiterated that “I am willing to talk to the Hurriyat Conference or anyone abjuring violence. Our doors are open if they (the Hurriyat) want to talk. I have received certain type of feelers that they want to talk,” he said.

Dr Singh was categoric that his government is open to having discussions with all the segments of the public and those who represent the political process in Jammu and Kashmir as well as others “outside the political spectrum.”

Asked if he could cite an instance of what the Opposition finds vindictive in the functioning of the UPA Government, Dr Singh remarked: “The beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Admitting that there are constraints in running a coalition government, Dr Singh said that they are not able to push some of the things even though a “common minimum factor has been evolved. Coalition politics does constrain.”

The people have given the mandate for the UPA coalition arrangement to work together and therefore “we are working in a sincere manner to give a sense of direction,” he observed talking to mediapersons abroad Air India 1 while flying back from Moscow.