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Top Kashmiri Leader Assassinated
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| Abdul Ghani Lone, Kashmiri leader |
By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, May 21 (IslamOnline) - All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC)
leader Abdul Ghani Lone was shot dead by unidentified uniformed men
during a public meeting in Srinagar this evening. The incident took
place around 6 pm at the Idgah area in Srinagar where a big public
meeting of the Hurriyat was being held .
According
to reports, there were two assailants in police uniforms. They
targeted Lone specifically as other APHC leaders present at the site
were not hurt. One of Lone's bodyguards was also killed in the attack
while another was injured. The attackers also lobbed a grenade which
failed to explode. At least six others were also injured in the attack
as the meeting was about to end at 6.15 pm local time.
Seventy-year-old
Abdul Ghani Lone was rushed to the Soura Medical Institute in Srinagar
and declared "brought dead".
Abdul
Ghani Lone was seen as the top moderate face of the APHC closely
interacting with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and supported the forthcoming
assembly elections in the state. He supported the resolution of the
Kashmir issue politically and wanted the central government in New
Delhi to seek a permanent solution that kept in mind the wishes of the
Kashmiri people.
His
dastardly killing today has been interpreted as militants' message to
the Indian government, and a warning to "moderate" leaders
in the APHC which is the conglomerate of 23 Kashmiri secessionist
organisations. His assassination may also be the handiwork of some
pro-Indian group in Kashmir, like the ruling National Conference,
threatened by the moderate faces of APHC who could be coopted by New
Delhi at the expense of the pro-Indian groups which enjoy little
popular support among the Kashmiris but have benefited immensely due
to the Indian patronage.
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| Lone being attacked by Shiv Sena activists |
Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, now in Jammu on the first leg of his
Kashmir visit, has offered his condolences to the family of the slain
leader.
Bilal
Lone son of the slain APHC leader, was speechless when he heard of his
father's death."He was a great man, a great father. He should not
have died like this," said a shocked Bilal who is now visiting
New Delhi.
Abdul
Ghani Lone's adversaries accused him of acting in contravention of
APHC's constitution and its established position on the Kashmir issue.
They alleged that Lone had been hobnobbing with New Delhi and had
"agreed to a solution to the Kashmir issue within the Indian
Constitution".
Lone,
supported by Kashmir's religious leader Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, realized
that the armed militancy had reached a dead end, and that a political
solution had to be found to save the people of Kashmir from
annihilation in an struggle which has devoured 80,000 Kashmiri youths,
according to militant claims since the eruption of the secessionist
militancy in July 1988.
It
is believed that Lone was ready to take part in the Kashmir
legislative assembly elections to be held next October. Reportedly he
said in the APHC executive council recently: "We will get neither
azadi (freedom) nor Pakistan, let us consider something
different."
Extremist
Hindus too targeted Lone. Only last April, the extremist Hindu outfit
Shiv Sena members roughed him up in full glare of TV cameras while he
was speaking to the media in Jammu, a Hindu majority area of Kashmir.
The Hindu extremists considered Lone a "traitor who had no right
to be on the soil of Jammu".
Lone
was a member of the Kashmir legislative assembly in the 1970s and
belonged to a political party called Peoples' Conference. He also
controlled a militant outfit called Al-Barq. He spent long spells
behind bars for his opposition to Indian policies in Kashmir.
Reportedly of late he had come close to the U.S. and met American
diplomats in Srinagar and New Delhi.
The
assassination came as Prime Minister Vajpayee arrived in Kashmir and
the APHC asked him in a statement today to initiate steps for holding
a "sincere" dialogue with the Kashmiris and said that the
issues like elections for representation or governance could be part
of the negotiating process.
Ironically
Lone was killed during a ceremony to mark the death anniversary of
late Mirwaiz Maulvi Muhammad Farooq, father of the current Mirwaiz
Umar Farooq. Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq too was killed by suspected
militants in May 1990 for being a moderate.
In
a separate incident in Kashmir, suspected militants beheaded two
National Conference (NC) activists after abducting them from their
houses at village Khaipora early today, police said.
NC
is ruling the state of Jammu & Kashmir. In another incident five
people, including two security personnel, were injured when two
improvised explosive devices exploded in Ramban and Aassar areas of
Doda district Monday, police said.
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