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Beleaguered Hurriyat convenes meet
Facing growing dissension within its various constituents, the Hurriyat Conference has called for a general council meeting later this week to `attempt and iron out the growing differences`.
Facing growing dissension within its various constituents, the Hurriyat Conference has called for a general council meeting later this week to "attempt and iron out the growing differences".
Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat has sent letters to all of its 23 constituents asking them to attend a general council meeting on August 29, amalgam insiders said.
The executive council of the amalgam has come under severe criticism from parties like Islamic Students League and Anjuman-e-Sharia Shia, they said.
Most significant is the criticism by some second rung leaders of Muslim League, to whose party the present chairman belongs. They have raised several issues including the present move by senior Hurriyat Conference leaders like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone to carry out mass awareness campaign in various parts of the country. The general council is likely to discuss the issue of growing rift between Lone and fire-brand Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Hurriyat insiders said Lone, considered a moderate leader, has been critical of Geelani's terming of Kashmir issue as a religious one and its accession to Pakistan as inevitable.
Geelani will have also to face rough weather for his reported support to Syed Ullah Tantray, who claims to be running an organisation parallel to Hurriyat in Jammu.
The Jamaat leader had recently visited Poonch, Kishtawar and other regions of Jammu and attended the seminars and religious meetings organised by Tantray.
A majority of Hurriyat leaders including the moderate ones propogating independence of the state have been privately opposing extension of support to Tantray.
The Hurriyat chairman was also likely to face a rough weather from other constituents for his decision of meeting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and writing a letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee seeking an appointment.
The constituents including JKLF, which boycotted the tea party organised in honour of Musharraf, are likely to seek an explaination from Bhat for taking such a major decision without consulting the general council.
Another statement by some moderate Hurriyat leaders that the Hurriyat will consider positively a fresh proposal for talks from the Centre is also likely to lead to generate heat at the council as hardliners in the amalgam said the stand of "New Delhi that it was not extending any further invitation" had let down the 23-party conglomerate.
JKLF, the party propogating independence for Kashmir region, is also to raise the issue of silence maintained by Hurriyat Conference leaders over the arrest of its chairman Yaseen Malik.
Bureau Report
Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat has sent letters to all of its 23 constituents asking them to attend a general council meeting on August 29, amalgam insiders said.
The executive council of the amalgam has come under severe criticism from parties like Islamic Students League and Anjuman-e-Sharia Shia, they said.
Most significant is the criticism by some second rung leaders of Muslim League, to whose party the present chairman belongs. They have raised several issues including the present move by senior Hurriyat Conference leaders like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone to carry out mass awareness campaign in various parts of the country. The general council is likely to discuss the issue of growing rift between Lone and fire-brand Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Hurriyat insiders said Lone, considered a moderate leader, has been critical of Geelani's terming of Kashmir issue as a religious one and its accession to Pakistan as inevitable.
Geelani will have also to face rough weather for his reported support to Syed Ullah Tantray, who claims to be running an organisation parallel to Hurriyat in Jammu.
The Jamaat leader had recently visited Poonch, Kishtawar and other regions of Jammu and attended the seminars and religious meetings organised by Tantray.
A majority of Hurriyat leaders including the moderate ones propogating independence of the state have been privately opposing extension of support to Tantray.
The Hurriyat chairman was also likely to face a rough weather from other constituents for his decision of meeting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and writing a letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee seeking an appointment.
The constituents including JKLF, which boycotted the tea party organised in honour of Musharraf, are likely to seek an explaination from Bhat for taking such a major decision without consulting the general council.
Another statement by some moderate Hurriyat leaders that the Hurriyat will consider positively a fresh proposal for talks from the Centre is also likely to lead to generate heat at the council as hardliners in the amalgam said the stand of "New Delhi that it was not extending any further invitation" had let down the 23-party conglomerate.
JKLF, the party propogating independence for Kashmir region, is also to raise the issue of silence maintained by Hurriyat Conference leaders over the arrest of its chairman Yaseen Malik.
Bureau Report