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Kashmiri Hurriyat
Leaders Meet To Discuss Situation
By
our Indian correspondent
New
Delhi, Jan. 28 (IslamOnline) - Leaders of the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC)
began a crucial meeting this morning in Srinagar to review the prevailing
situation in the Valley of Kashmir, and discuss reports suggesting that some
alliance leaders are ready to contest Legislative Assembly elections in Kashmir.
The APHC is the conglomerate of around two dozen secessionist organizations in
the India-administered Kashmir, reported Times of India.
Led
by APHC chairman, Abdul Ghani Bhat, the meeting of seven-member executive
council is taking place at the headquarters of the APHC in Srinagar. "The
leaders will take stock of the situation in Kashmir, which has been changing
fast after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's January 12 speech," the
Hurriyat spokesman said.
President
Musharraf has vowed a crackdown on extremist groups, including those fighting
Indian rule in Kashmir. Islamabad has already banned two groups, Lashkar-e-Toiba
and Jaish-e-Mohammed, accused by New Delhi of attacking the Indian Parliament on
December 13, 2001. The move has been appreciated by New Delhi and the
international community.
The
Hurriyat has welcomed President Musharraf's steps towards ending extremism in
the subcontinent. The meeting will discuss reports in the media that some of the
top-rung Hurriyat leaders, like Abdul Ghani Lone, are ready to contest
provincial elections. "It is one of the issues to be discussed," the
spokesman said. Hitherto APHC’s position has been that it will take part
in a plebiscite under international supervision.
The
Hurriyat, since its formation in 1993, has been boycotting both regional and
parliamentary polls. The amalgam grouping wants resolution of Kashmir through
implementation of impending UN resolutions on Kashmir or tripartite talks,
involving India, Pakistan and the Hurriyat.
However,
of late, it has been under pressure from the pro-India groups in Kashmir to
prove its representative character. Reportedly President Musharraf also told its
leaders during his visit last July to be ready to prove their representative
character.
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