NEW DELHI, August 31 (Islam Online) - All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a 23-party conglomerate espousing the cause of joining Pakistan or an independent Kashmir, has decided to boycott the forthcoming elections.

Top leaders of APHC addressed well-attended congregations Friday, August 30, and asked people to keep away from elections they termed as "sham and an attempt to hoodwink the world community." They, however, expressed their willingness to continue with the process of dialogue with the Indian government for an amicable and just solution to the long-standing Kashmir problem.

The troubled north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir is slated to go to polls beginning September 16. State election commission (EC) officials said that the polls would be conducted in four phases and would conclude on October 8.

APHC leaders formally launched their anti-poll campaign in different parts of the Muslim-dominated Valley and addressed people gathered for Friday prayers in mosques.

"Kashmir is not India's internal problem. It is an international issue. It is our humble advice to people not to associate themselves with these sham elections. By holding these elections, India wants to present this (Kashmir) struggle as India's internal problem," said Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat, APHC chairman, while addressing over 5,000 people at Friday prayers at Jama Masjid in the apple town of Sopore, 50 km north of the state capital Srinagar.

Prof. Bhat said, "Elections have never solved the Kashmir dispute. It's an international issue and could be solved through a trilateral dialogue only."

Mirwaiz Maulvi Umer Farooq, Kashmir's traditional religious leader and former APHC chairman, who led the Friday prayers at Srinagar's historic Jama Masjid, during his sermon declared categorically that the APHC was not averse to participating in the elections if at all it was in any way related to the permanent solution of the Kashmir problem."

The alliance was ready to take part in any polls linked to the resolution of the Kashmir issue. We are not against the principle of elections. But we will never become part of polls meant for electing governments," the Mirwaiz emphasized.

"I want to declare today that Hurriyat Conference is ready for unconditional talks with the Government of India for resolving the dispute. If during our talks with India, elections come up for discussions we will not shy away from discussing that," he said.

Prominent Shia Muslim leaders in the valley also addressed the people during Friday congregations. Javed Mir and Aga Syed Hassan, senior APHC leaders, appealed to the people to boycott the polls. "We have come to appeal to you to boycott the coming polls. The holding of elections in the disputed region is meaningless," they said while addressing the people in the central Kashmir town of Badgam.

Aga Syed Hassan is an influential Shia leader, while Javed Mir is the acting chairman of pro-Independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

This time, however, separatist leaders have so far refrained from hitting the streets with gusto. "Our three senior executive committee members Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Sheikh Abdul Aziz are behind bars. Forty of our other colleagues are languishing in jails. Government does not allow the assembly of people. Whenever we try to take out a rally, they beat us black and blue. These things have to be taken into account before deciding how the anti-election campaign is to be pursued in a full-fledged manner," Hurriyat chief Prof. Bhat clarified at a press conference in Srinagar on August 27.

Meanwhile, in an important development the APHC suspended four leaders - Ghulam Rasool Sofi, Abdul Haq Khan, Abdul Rashid Mirchal and Ghulam Qadir Malik - of the People's Conference who recently filed their nominations to contest elections as independents.

The expelled leaders had filed their nominations from Handwara, Kupwara, Lolab and Karnah legislative assembly constituencies respectively after quitting People's Conference (PC). It is believed that they are proxy candidates of the PC.

PC is one of the prominent members of the APHC. Its chief Abdul Ghani Lone, who was also a former APHC chairman, was assassinated last June. Lone was perceived to be pro-India and pro-elections by Kashmiri militants. Sajjad Ghani Lone, the assassinated leader's son, is now heading PC.

Sajjad Lone admitted that four of his party members had indeed filed their nominations after quitting it. The party has now accepted their resignations, he said.

Shabbir Shah receiving U.S. State Department adviser Lisa Curtis

On the other hand, the party members who resigned appeared unrepentant. Mr. Sofi told an election rally, "I am here to promote Lone's political principles." Other candidates also said that they would still continue to owe loyalty to the group and remain faithful to Lone's political ideology.

Earlier, APHC leaders decided to attend the second round of talks with the non-official Kashmir Committee in New Delhi. Ram Jethmalani, an eminent lawyer and a former minister of law, is trying to reach a negotiated settlement on Kashmir through his recently-formed Kashmir Committee comprising of Shanti Bhushan, a constitutional expert, Dileep Padgaonkar, executive editor of The Times of India, and MJ Akbar, editor of The Asian Age. The Committee has already held talks with Hurriyat leaders in Srinagar on August 17.

In another development, prominent separatist leader and Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) chief, Shabbir Shah, held the second round of talks in New Delhi with Kashmir Committee members on August 29. Mr. Shah also announced that he would not be taking part in the elections. Besides, Shah held meetings with the Leader of the Opposition and Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. Shah placed before the Committee a list of seven conditions for the peaceful settlement of Kashmir problem.

The United States is showing considerable interest in the Kashmir issue. It has also tried to influence separatist leaders to take part in the elections. Officials in the Bush administration recently met with separatist leaders.