Srinagar/Islamabad, May 31
Virtually giving green signal to Hurriyat leaders to travel to Islamabad, the authorities in Srinagar today asked them to carry their passports for use as travel documents in their trip across the LoC.

Pakistan said it expected them in Islamabad when they visit part of Kashmir under its control by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus on June 2.

Hurriyat leaders have been asked to fill passport forms which could be used as travel documents when they enter Pakistan’s territory during their visit across the LoC, senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah told PTI after submitting forms of his 12-member delegation at the regional passport office in Srinagar.

India had earlier said that Hurriyat leaders’ travel to Pakistan during their PoK visit would not be in conformity with the understanding reached between the two countries while starting the bus service. Islamabad has invited Hurriyat leaders to visit Pakistan and part of Kashmir occupied by it.

In Islamabad, after a meeting with visiting Leader of the Opposition and BJP President L.K. Advani, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Hurriyat “represented” the people of Kashmir and they looked forward to Hurriyat leaders’ visit to Pakistan.

“We look forward to their visit and I personally, the government and the President (Pervez Musharraf) are looking forward to meet them... this will help in better understanding and make progress on the Kashmir issue.”

Meanwhile, several militant groups have hailed breakaway Hurriyat Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s decision not to visit Pakistan and PoK on the June 2 ‘’Karavan-e-Aman (Caravan of Peace)’’ on invitation from Islamabad.

“By rejecting visit to Pakistan and PoK, which is a non-issue, Mr Geelani has shown his commitment and his ability to differentiate between the important and unimportant issues,’’ a spokesman for four militant outfits Al-Nasireen, Farzandan-e-Milat, Save Kashmir Movement and Al-Arifeen said here.

These groups had earlier opposed the launch of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and threatened to turn the Peace Caravan into a “coffin”.

“Mr Geelani has decided on our lines...He has decided not to play second fiddle to the farce enacted by the Indian and the Pakistani leadership. He has endorsed the stand of many militant leaders who have been supporting the freedom struggle in Jammu and Kashmir,’’ the spokesman added.

In another development, the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference today included the names of four more members of its general council in its delegation to PoK, raising its strength to nine, Hurriyat sources said today.

“The names of four leaders of the general council have been cleared by Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and they have been asked to file their papers for the proposed visit to PoK on June 2,” the sources said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) today decided to send only its chairman Yasin Malik in the June 2 “Karavan-e-Aman (Caravan of Peace)’’ to PoK in protest against the decision by the authorities to clear only five of the 17 members it had proposed for the visit.

“The JKLF had sent 17 names for clearance by the authorities. The proposed delegation included besides the JKLF leaders, people from all shades of opinion, intellectuals, scholars and members of the minority community. But unfortunately only five names were cleared by the authorities,” the group said in a statement here. — PTI, UNI

Jammu, May 31
While the Union Home Ministry has given green signal to Governor, S.K.Sinha, who heads the Amarnath Shrine Board, for going ahead with his schedule of the annual pilgrimage, Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed has indicated that the controversy over the duration of the yatra will be resolved amicably.

Mufti Sayeed told newsmen here today that “it is not a communal issue and the controversy will be resolved amicably.” He said “We want more pilgrims to visit the cave. Last year over four lakh pilgrims had visited the mountain shrine and we expect more to visit this year.” He, however, made it clear that “the state government has to take care of the security of the pilgrims”.

The Shrine Board sources said the Union Ministry conveyed to the Governor he should go ahead with his scheme of things as far as the annual yatra was concerned.

As a follow-up a meeting of the members of the Shrine Board has been convened in Delhi on June 12, On June 3, the Governor will visit the route to the cave via Baltal for assessing the pace of progress in snow clearance operations.

The sources said the route between Brari Marg and Sangam,6 km short of the holy cave, would be made passable within the next three days. Official sources said the controversy over the duration of the yatra figured briefly during the Cabinet meeting yesterday. The Chief Minister, according to these sources, suggested to the Chief Secretary, who is also a member of the Shrine Board, to resolve the issue.

Sources said that the issue was expected to figure during the Cabinet meeting on June 7.Indications are that a via media will be found for the resolution of the controversy so that there was no need for the Governor to convene the meeting of the Shrine Board on June 12.

Since the traditional route between Pahalgam and the holy was still buried under deep snow following fresh snowfall in the upper reaches of Pahalgam, the track is unlikely to be passable by June 21 when the first batch of the pilgrims arrives.

As such the Shrine Board will concentrate on the upgradation of the route to the cave via Baltal,which is shorter than the Pahalgam route.

Jammu, May 31
Reacting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s suggestion that the Centre was willing to consider greater autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, the state unit of the BJP has said this formulation would seal the fate of the people of Jammu and Ladakh. Such concession would enable valley-centric Kashmiri leaders to implement their sectarian agenda and also help Pakistan play its games in the state unhindered.

In a statement here today, the state BJP vice-president, Prof Hari Om, said the Prime Minister’s suggestion was based on the misguided notion that the political aspirations of the people of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh were identical.

He suggested that the Prime Minister should take steps at the earliest to trifurcate the state (Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh) so that each one of them became a master of its own destiny.

He said the political aspirations of the people of Jammu and Ladakh were different from those of Kashmir and they were opposed to the idea of the state getting more political autonomy as they viewed it as a step towards separation based on communal considerations.

He said the people of Jammu and Ladakh had all along stood for the state’s full integration with India and extension of the Indian Constitution to the state by scrapping Article 370.

Prof Hari Om alleged that the Prime Minister at the behest of fundamentalists was playing with fire and seeking to implement certain ideas that had the potential of emboldening the forces of disintegration and those who were working overtime to dismember India.

He alleged that during the past one year, the Manmohan Singh government had taken steps that had negated everything the Congress leaders stood for between 1885 and 1947.

He pointed out that Jammu and Kashmir already enjoyed maximum autonomy and that it was the only state in the Indian Union that enjoyed residuary powers. Granting more autonomy would push J&K further towards Pakistan, he warned.

He said if the Congress-led UPA government was determined to pamper the forces of separatism and those injecting the poison of communalism in the state polity, the only alternative before it was to separate Jammu and Ladakh from Kashmir. Separation of these two units may enable the Prime Minister to start parleys with Kashmiri leaders of all hues to find out what could satisfy them and their constituencies.

Jammu, May 31
Having first supported in the Assembly the Panchayati Raj Bill seeking to dissolve all elected panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress is now having second thoughts on it because of criticism by the Opposition. The Governor, Lt-Gen S.K. Sinha (retd), has returned the Bill to the Assembly for certain clarifications.

It is learnt that the Congress, which is the largest partner in the PDP-led coalition government, was not in favour of dissolving all the panchayats as such a step would provide an opportunity to the Opposition to raise a controversy.

The Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, told The Tribune today that the Congress had reservations on dissolving the panchayats.

He said the existing law provided for superseding any particular panchayat that did not function in conformity with the rules.

Mr Sharma said the Congress would in no case allow Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed to dissolve all panchayats with one stroke of pen.

On the Panchayati Raj Bill the Congress is caught in a similar situation in which it had landed itself on the issue of the controversial Daughters’ Bill by supporting it in the Assembly and then trying to wriggle out of it.

The Congress wholeheartedly supported the Panchayati Raj Amendment Bill in the recent session of the Assembly here, but has developed cold feet due to severe criticism by the Opposition.

When contacted, the Rural Development Minister, Mr Peerazada Sayeed, who is also president of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), said the Panchayati Raj Act was sought to be amended through the Bill to provide representation to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women.

During his recent visit here, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had suggested to the state government to incorporate the 73rd and 74th amendments in its constitution to take all benefits of the Panchayati Raj Act.

However, the state government has yet to take steps in this direction.

Jammu, May 31
The effigy of Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed was burnt by activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal here today to protest against the government’s “non-cooperating” attitude towards the annual Amarnath Yatra.

The VHP organised a rally in the heart of the town in which several religious and social organisations participated.

They took strong exception to Mufti Sayeed’s “interference” in the religious affairs of Hindus by curtailing the duration of the pilgrimage.

Mr Ramakant Dubey, leader of the VHP, and various others warned that the efforts to Islamise the state would not be allowed to succeed.

Meanwhile, the Mufti said here that the controversy regarding the pilgrimage would be sorted out amicably. He said that he was keen to have more pilgrims this year as compared to last year, but security of the pilgrims was his prime concern, he added.