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Kashmir's Alliance Names Pakistan Delegation
SRINAGAR (News Agencies) - The leaders of Kashmir's main alliance Thursday named a five-man team it plans to send to Pakistan for talks, and called on India to grant them travel documents.
The list, read out after a meeting of the executive council of the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), showed a clear attempt to balance representatives of those in the alliance who favor Kashmir's accession to Pakistan with those who prefer Kashmiri independence.
The five executive members chosen for the proposed mission on January 15th were Abdul Gani Lone and Omer Farooq, both pro-independence, Sheikh Abdul Aziz and Syed Ali Geelani (pro-Pakistan), as well as Abbas Ansari who is roughly in between the two camps.
Hurriyat chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat, who was given the task after a previous executive council meeting failed to reach a consensus, chose the final list.
"Abdul Gani Bhat has given these five names and we will abide by the decision," said the seventh member of the executive council, Yasin Malik.
"Now it depends on whether the Indian government will allow the delegation to go [to] Pakistan or not."
Only two of the executive members named by Bhat - Lone and Farooq - currently hold valid travel documents.
"We hope that the government of India will see to it that the peace process to resolve the Kashmir dispute is not put in jeopardy," Malik said.
India has extended its unilateral suspension of operations against groups in Kashmir until January 26th and has promised "exploratory steps" towards resuming a bilateral dialogue with Pakistan.
But so far it has failed to respond to Hurriyat demands to provide travel documents to those members of the executive council who are currently without passports.
In the past, New Delhi has frequently rejected requests for such documents from those it views as the more hardline of the Kashmiri leaders.
The Hurriyat, which comprises nearly two-dozen political, social and religious bodies, wants the delegation to hold talks with Muslim groups in Pakistan as well as Pakistani officials.
Kashmiri leaders say the delegation is crucial given India's current refusal to hold direct talks with Pakistan.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, which is divided between the two and claimed by both.
The conflict in Indian-controlled Kashmir has claimed 34,000 lives since 1989.
On Wednesday, the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group warned Hurriyat leaders not to bring an "Indian agenda" with them when they visit Pakistan.
"We will not hold talks with them if they bring an Indian agenda to ask for cessation of operations by mujahideen [Islamic fighters] in response to a so-called Indian ceasefire," Lashkar chief Hafez Mohammad Saeed said.
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