Srinagar, June 27: As President A P J Abdul Kalam arrives here on the third and final leg of his three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, he would probably be the first dignitary who has not been greeted by a shut down call by Hurriyat Conference in recent times. The separatist Hurriyat Conference, which has been of late trying to shun away its image as "hartal conference", today announced that no hartal would be observed in the Kashmir valley during Kalam's visit as the amalgam wanted "him (Kalam) to have a feel of miseries of the people of the state."

Hurriyat Conference had come under flak from several other Kashmiri organisations including International Kashmir Alliance for frequently giving calls for bandh in the valley.

Some separatist leaders had even said that the conglomerate's only function was to give calls for hartal.

Significantly, no Pakistan-based militant organisation has also given a call for a bandh during Kalam's visit.

The organisation never missed an opportunity to give a call for bandh whenever any dignitary arrived in the valley.

Hurriyat had given a two-day bandh call during the visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in April but had to curtail it to only one day, apparently due to the huge presence of people at the public rally.

Bureau Report