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Muslim Groups Welcome Hurriyat Team To Pakistan
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan-controlled Kashmir (News Agencies) - Muslim groups on Friday welcomed the makeup of a team of India-based Kashmiri leaders who have applied to visit Pakistan later this month.
The team from the All Party Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, the main alliance based on the Indian side of the divided Himalayan state, is planning to visit on January 15th if India grants them travel documents.
Muslim groups applauded the leaders for balancing the five-man team with representatives who favor Kashmir's accession to Pakistan and those who want Kashmir's independence.
"The team is balanced. There were rumors that the separatist house is divided between moderates and extremists but now this confusion is finished," Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman Salim Hashmi said.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which has recently warned Hurriyat leaders not to bring an "Indian agenda" when they visit Pakistan, was also satisfied with the team.
"These people undoubtedly have a role in the freedom struggle as they have been fighting on the political front," Lashkar-e-Taiba spokesman Abu Usama said.
The five executive members chosen for the proposed mission were Abdul Gani Lone and Omer Farooq, both pro-independence, Sheikh Abdul Aziz and Syed Ali Geelani (pro-Pakistan), and Abbas Ansari, who comes somewhere in the middle.
Only two - Lone and Farooq - hold valid travel documents.
"Now it depends on whether the Indian government will allow the delegation to go to Pakistan or not," Hurriyat executive council member Yasin Malik said late Thursday.
"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."
Pakistan has invited Hurriyat leaders for talks on how to proceed with a formal dialogue including Pakistan, India and the Hurriyat.
India has refused Pakistani and Kashmiri demands for a three-way dialogue, accusing Islamabad of supporting "terrorism" on the Indian side of Kashmir in a conflict that has claimed more than 30,000 lives since 1989.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars and a major border conflict over Kashmir, which was divided between them in 1947 but is claimed by both.
A spokesman for the Muttahida Jihad Council, an 18-member umbrella organization of Muslim groups, said it would meet Friday night to discuss the Hurriyat's team.
Most Muslim groups have rejected an ongoing Indian ceasefire, saying truce is meaningless without a tripartite dialogue acknowledging Kashmir as a disputed territory.
India has previously refused to countenance talks outside the ambit of the Indian constitution, which rules out discussion of Kashmiri independence.
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