New Delhi, Nov 13: The Kashmir committee today blamed fire-brand Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for causing split in Hurriyat Conference but advised the Centre to hold talks with him "if at any time he sees the wisdom of getting on to the negotiating table".
Breaking his silence over the split in the Hurriyat
Conference for the first time, chairman of the committee Ram
Jethmalani said in a statement that "the Kashmir committee is
unhappy about the unhelpful posture of Syed Ali Shah Geelani,
leading to cleavage and break up of Hurriyat Conference into
two."
Geelani cannot be impervious to the worldwide revulsion
against terrorism nor can he be ignorant of international law,
which denies the honour of freedom fighter to any one using
murder and mayhem to secure political concessions from a
democratic regime, said Jethmalani, whose seven-member
committee has held several rounds of talks with Hurriyat
leaders including Maualna Abbas Ansari, Abdul Gani Bhat and
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.
"Even so the government should have no objection to
talking to Geelani at any time he sees the wisdom of getting
on to the negotiating table as the government had already held
talks with militant groups like Hizbul Mujahideen," Jethmalani
said.
Bureau Report
