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| Thursday,
April 19, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Hurriyat
buying time on talks Rousing
reception to People’s League chief Rs 1.80
crore for migrant camps 11.38 lakh
pilgrims visit cave shrine |
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Hurriyat buying time on talks Jammu, April 18 The executive committee members have not been able to form a unanimous view of the issue of acceptance of the offer for talks and hence it would like to involve the 21-member working committee and later the general council to save its skin in case of any resentment from the militants and the agencies across the border. The APHC leaders know it well that the process of talks initiated by Mr Pant would be a meaningless exercise in case the Hurriyat Conference was not associated with it. Hence the APHC leaders would buy time in a bid to mount pressure on the Government of India to concede to their basic demand for allowing the Hurriyat team to visit Pakistan. In fact the APHC leadership has not received any green signal from Islamabad, which is keen to force India to resume talks with Pakistan. It would like to use the APHC in building pressure on New Delhi by delaying acceptance of the offer. According to a senior APHC leader and member of the executive committee, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, the matter had to be referred to the working committee and the general council because, “We do not want to take any decision in haste which could prove counter productive”. He told TNS that the executive committee had the powers to take decisions and it had taken many in the past but acceptance or rejection of the offer for talks was a very important matter and “We want to have the opinion of all 21 members of the working committee and the general council members”. He said that the talks should not be just like Sheikh-Indira accord which failed to resolve the core issue of Kashmir and the Congress sabotaged even that accord within six months by withdrawing support to the government headed by Sheikh Abdullah which resulted in fresh elections in the state. Maulvi Ansari said that “We also do not want the peace process get sabotaged the way Hizbul Mujahideen’s unilateral ceasefire was derailed when the outfit leaders had not consulted other groups and political organisations, especially the APHC”. Sources said that the APHC had reservations on the acceptance of talks on two grounds. First, the denial to its five-member team to visit Pakistan had proved an irritant to it. The APHC did not want to take a decision which would have no takers among outfits and forces that matter. Secondly, the APHC expected a
preferential treatment since it claimed to represent the sentiments of the people in Kashmir. It did not want to be grouped and equated with traders and mainstream political groups. Maulvi Abbas Ansari said that by being allowed to visit Pakistan the APHC team would try to prevail upon the militants and other agencies to respond positively to the ceasefire announced and enforced by the Government of India in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the unilateral ceasefire has had no meaning so far because the guns continued to roar and the grenades continue to explode. When asked whether the APHC would participate in the talks if soon after the first round the APHC team would be allowed to visit Pakistan, Maulvi Ansari said, “We to be careful about the intentions of the government. We do not want to be hooked like Sheikh Abdullah who failed to secure what he had demanded before signing of the Sheikh-Indira accord”, he added. He said that, “We have already conveyed to Delhi and agencies across the border that not gun but dialogue could result in some solution of the Kashmir problem and it is in this context we want to persuade leaders of militant outfits across the border to shun violence and wait for the dialogue to progress”. Experts were of the opinion that if the government sent a clear message to the separatist conglomerate that the APHC team would be allowed to go to Pakistan soon after the first round of talks the APHC would accept the offer for dialogue from Mr Pant. The chairman, APHC, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, had suggested another formula to the Centre. He informed the government that in case it had some reservations on the APHC team being allowed to visit Pakistan it should agree to hold talks with four of the seven members of the executive committee and three other members be allowed to visit Pakistan. He has said the ball was in the court of Mr Pant. |
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Rousing
reception to People’s League chief Jammu, April 18 At the airport, Sheikh Ahmed, who is also a member of the executive committee of the APHC, was greeted by a big crowd of Hurriyat Conference leaders and supporters, including officials, and a minister in the occupied Kashmir. The government-controlled electronic and print media covered the visit in detail. Another big reception awaited him in Islamabad today. The scales have been reversed. In March, he had decided to visit Pakistan in connection with the wedding ceremony of his brother. He approached the Pakistan High Commission for visa and was informed that he would not be accorded any public or official reception. He later decided to postpone his visit. Sources said he decided to visit Pakistan to see his brother and organise a post-wedding function only after he had received indications that he would be received by some officials of the occupied Kashmir government. As he landed in Lahore, he kneeled down and kissed the soil. This was captured by the Pakistani electronic media. When Mr Abdul Gani Lone, a senior APHC leader, visited Pakistan in November there was not a single government functionary at the airport. The electronic media had in one of its bulletins had mentioned his visit. The sources said Sheikh Ahmed had been cold shouldered by the Pakistan High Commission because he had distanced himself from senior APHC leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Mr Geelani is the main pro-Pakistan voice in Jamait-e-Islami and the APHC. It is said he may have got closer to Mr Geelani which resulted in a red-carpet welcome in Pakistan. |
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Rs 1.80 crore
for migrant camps Jammu, April 18 This was stated at a meeting of officers and representatives of Kashmiri migrants here yesterday. The Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Mr Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Shah presided over the meeting. The Advisor to Chief Minister on minority affairs, Prof Satish Raina, was also present. Responding to the demand of upkeep of orchards of Kashmiri migrants, they were asked to furnish details of the orchards. The amount spent would be deducted from the return of produce, he said. The participants were informed that the Centre had been approached for enhancing the cash assistance to migrant families. The migrant representatives said they would meet the central leaders for acceding to their demand in the light of recommendations of the state government. The meeting, inter alia, discussed problems of the camp and other migrants. Besides issues like promotion of migrant employees and grant of promotional benefits to them, grant of CCA/HRA in favour of the migrant employees and on the spot recruitments of migrants in the state police were also discussed. |
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11.38 lakh pilgrims
visit cave shrine Jammu, April 18 During the corresponding period last year, 9.37 lakh pilgrims had visited the shrine. At present, about 20,000 yatris are reaching Katra, the base camp of the pilgrimage, daily for their journey to the shrine. |
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