Let us move collectively: moderate Hurriyat to hardliners

Srinagar, Nov 30 (UNI) The moderate Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, today once again appealed to all the separatist groups, including the hardline amalgam faction headed by firebrand leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, to unite and come on one platform in the larger interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

''Neither India nor Pakistan can afford to ignore the people of Jammu and Kashmir. We have to be there in any case,'' senior Hurriyat leader Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat told journalists after an emergency meeting of the amalgam here.

''But, the people too have to remember that if we do not move collectively and show India and Pakistan the path that passes through Jammu and Kashmir, I am afraid we may be swept aside as just non-entities...Let that not happen,'' he added.

Prof Bhat said all those elements alive to the situation should unite to move collectively and reach the destination. ''And to cap it all, there should be no miscalculation that Kashmir dispute is as huge as the process itself. It is a flashpoint and if restricted to the Centre-State relationship, you do not ensure a bright future and a better world for the people of India, Pakistan and the entire south Asian region,'' he added.

The Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat Conference had summoned an emergency meeting of its Executive Committee and the General Council at its Raj Bagh headquarters here to discuss a two-point unity formula proposed by the Muzaffarabad-based United Jehad Council (UJC), an amalgam of several militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

In an interview to the local media here from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), UJC chairman Syed Salahuddin suggested two meeting points for both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference - one led by the Mirwaiz and the other by firebrand leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

''Leaders from both the Hurriyat factions should agree upon that no solution within the ambit of the Indian constitution would be acceptable to them. Also, there should be no justification for presence of Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir...Rest of the issues among them can be sorted out later,'' Salahuddin said.

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