J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Jamaat wants Geelani to continue
APHC meeting to discuss issue
Jammu, February 27
The Executive Committee of the All Party Hurriyat Conference is likely to meet in Srinagar shortly to discuss the decision of the Jamaat-e-Islami not to recall its senior leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, from the conglomerate. Mr Geelani represents the Jamaat-e-Islami in the Hurriyat Conference.

J-K Houses mourn Handoo’s death
Jammu, February 27
The two Houses of the state legislature were adjourned today as a mark of respect for the Law Minister PL Handoo, who died after a protracted illness in Delhi last night. Mr Handoo (73) is survived by his two daughters and wife. Senior National Conference leaders and workers, including ministers and legislators, were present at the Jammu airport to receive the body.

Conference on J&K
New Delhi, February 27
Various suggestions and concepts for finding solution to the Kashmir issue will be discussed during a conference on Kashmir next month which is expected to be attended by leaders from both sides of the Line of Control.

Jamaat wants Geelani to continue
APHC meeting to discuss issue
M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 27
The Executive Committee of the All Party Hurriyat Conference is likely to meet in Srinagar shortly to discuss the decision of the Jamaat-e-Islami not to recall its senior leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, from the conglomerate. Mr Geelani represents the Jamaat-e-Islami in the Hurriyat Conference.

Informed sources said senior Jamaat-e-Islami leaders met in Srinagar yesterday to discuss the letter sent by the Hurriyat Conference ‘secretariat’ requesting the chief of the Jamaat, Mr G.M. Bhat, to recall Mr Geelani from the Hurriyat Conference and send some other party leader to represent it in the APHC. Mr Geelani and Mr Bhat, besides several other leaders, were present at the meeting.

It was decided Mr Geelani would remain in the APHC as a representative of the Jamaat. The APHC had listed some charges against Mr Geelani, including the one relating to his utterances and his stand on various issues, which, alleged, had created indiscipline in the APHC and weakened the ongoing campaign for durable settlement of the Kashmir issue.

The APHC Chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat has decided to convene a meeting of the Hurriyat’s Executive Committee to discuss Jamaat’s stand on the matter. This has caused anxiety only in the APHC circles but in the Jamaat-e-Islami also. It is no longer a secret that the relations between Mr Geelani and Mr Bhat, have been under strain, still the Jamaat Amir could not take the risk of accepting the recommendations from the APHC. The reason being that Mr Geelani has gained political weight not only in Kashmir but in Paksitan also since he adopted hard attitude on Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan.

A stage is set for a major showdown between the hawks and the moderates in the APHC. This time, out of seven executive members, Mr Geelani and Sheikh Aziz Ahmed are treated as hawks while the remaining five, including Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, are described as moderates. When asked whether he was a hawk or a dove Prof Bhat said, “I am neither a hawk nor a dove. I have a milky heart and wet eyes. I have brains that can think properly and remain impartial.”

Asked whether the APHC Executive would favour ouster of Mr Geelani front the conglomerate, Prof Bhat said, “We will simply discuss the issue”. This indicates that the moderates have no strength to throw out Mr Geelani which could amount to delinking the Jamaat-e-Islami from the APHC. And the APHC would lose its teeth, if the Jamaat comes out of the Hurriyat Conference.

No doubt the five of the seven members, Prof Bhat, Adbul Gani Lone, Mohdammad Yasin Malik, Maulvi Abhas Ansari and Maulvi Umar Farooq, are treated as moderates but at the time of a showdown some of them may be influenced by the Jamaat-e-Islami and imported agencies in Pakistan.

According to the sources, APHC leadership had plans of seeing Mr Geelani out of the Hurriyat Conference by persuading the chief of the Jamaat to sent a new party leader to represent the organisation in the Hurriyat Conference. This plan has been formulated on the assumption that the Government of India was reluctant on the assumption that the Government of India was reluctant to issue passports to the five-member APHC team because of the presence of Mr Geelani.

For the time being, the plan has failed. But the APHC leadership is hopeful that problems would be sorted out. However with this move, the rift between Mr Geelani and the constituents represented by Mohammad Yasin Malik of the JKLF and Mr Abdul Gani Lone of the Peoples’ Conference has further widened.

J-K Houses mourn Handoo’s death
Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 27
The two Houses of the state legislature were adjourned today as a mark of respect for the Law Minister PL Handoo, who died after a protracted illness in Delhi last night.

Mr Handoo (73) is survived by his two daughters and wife.

Senior National Conference leaders and workers, including ministers and legislators, were present at the Jammu airport to receive the body. A larger number of people and those belonging to different political parties visited the official residence of the minister to pay homage.

Both the Assembly and the Legislative Council were adjourned without transacting any business, except obituary references to Handoo by various leaders.

Mr Vakil said the state legislature had been deprived of an excellent parliamentarian. Mr Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, acting Chief Minister, and the Finance Minister, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, paid tributes to Handoo and said the National Conference had lost a trusted leaders.

Several Opposition members, including Mr Shiv Charan Gupta, (BJP), Mr Lal Singh (Congress), Mr Jagdish Raj Dubey (JD), Mr MY Tarigami (CPM), and Mr Harsh Dev Singh (Panthers Party) expressed grief.

Handoo had started his career as a lecturer in G.M. College in Srinagar.

Lather, he practised law in the high court and the Supreme Court. It was Sheikh Abdullah who picked him up to join politics.

He was elected to the Assembly in 1966 from the Habba Kadal constituency in Srinagar. He was a known orator. For various legal and political matters the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, depended on him.

Handoo was elected to the state Assembly in 1977, 1987 and 1996. He won the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat in 1989 when hardly anyone dared to contest the elections in the wake of poll boycott given by the militants.

As a mark of respect to the departed leader all state government offices were closed in the state today. A large member of people were present at the cremation today.

Conference on J&K
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 27
Various suggestions and concepts for finding solution to the Kashmir issue will be discussed during a conference on Kashmir next month which is expected to be attended by leaders from both sides of the Line of Control.

Being held in Jammu on March 17 and 18, the “Jammu and Kashmir Conference — In search of solutions’ is being hosted by Mr G.M. Shah, President, the Jammu and Kashmir Awami National Conference (JKANC).