NEW DELHI, June 30: The United States and some other Western countries are persuading the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to contest Indian-sponsored polls in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in October, reports from the valley said on Sunday.

In a separate report, the Srinagar-based Greater Kashmir newspaper said the state’s Jamaat-i-Islami party, a key member of the APHC executive, has promised not to oppose the polls although it would not contest them.

“Recently, an American delegation met Hurriyat Conference leaders including its chairman Abdul Gani Bhat and had an interaction with him during which various issues including participation in the forthcoming polls were discussed,” the Press Trust of India reported from Srinagar.

APHC leaders could not be reached by telephone for an independent confirmation of the report.

“Sources in the conglomerate said Bhat was in for a shock when the American delegation led by Steve Sobto conveyed that the United States did not recognise any organisation which ran away from a democratic exercise,” PTI said.

It said Bhat’s attempt to justify their non-participation in the elections was countered by the delegation which made it emphatically clear that the Hurriyat Conference should prove its representative character.

The APHC has been receiving similar indications from other western countries including the European Union and Britain, PTI said.

In a significant shift, the traditionally a pro-Pakistan Jamaat-i-Islami party, regarded as the political arm of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group, said it would not urge people to boycott the upcoming state polls.

The group was also quoted as saying it has never stood for accession of Kashmir to Pakistan.

“We will not participate in the forthcoming Assembly elections, but at the same time we will not launch a poll boycott campaign,” the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Ghulam Mohammad Bhat told the Greater Kashmir newspaper.

The Jamaat, as a key member of the APHC had spearheaded the anti-poll campaign during the state and parliamentary polls in 1996 and 1999.

Bhat is said to represent the moderate face of the Jamaat. The group is represented in Hurriyat by hardline and currently detained leader Syed Ali Geelani.

The Jamaat chief has termed the election boycott campaign an “unlawful activity, which my organisation doesn’t believe in.”

“Jamaat does not believe in forcing things,” he said, “as there is no compulsion in the religion.”

Bhat said even the Indian election commissioner during his recent visit to Kashmir said that forcing people to vote or forcing them against participation was against the law.

“Jamaat doesn’t believe in unlawful activity. Ours is a democratic setup.”

The APHC has indicated the group would boycott the upcoming polls, but has not given any formal call for the boycott. “We will give out our programme once the dates for polls are announced,” APHC chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat has been quoted as saying.

Hurriyat says polls are no substitute to the right of self-determination it is striving for. There is pressure on Hurriyat to contest the upcoming polls, even from the United States, and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has vowed “free and fair” polls, and even said he would impose direct federal rule ahead of polls if need arises.

Bhat said: “Life is like a changing ocean, anything can happen in future. But right now we have no plans of participating in the polls.”

Bhat said the polls in Kashmir were never free and fair. “Jamaat has lost faith in the electoral process despite being part of the exercise for over 15 years.”

Bhat was part of Muslim United Front, an alliance of various political, social and religious groups, in 1987 when the ruling party allegedly rigged the polls and later detained the Front workers and leaders.

“Those elections proved a turning point and led to the launch of armed struggle in Kashmir,” said Bhat. “Now the government of India is repeatedly assuring they (polls) will be fair. Let us see how it’s actually translated on ground.”

He spurned charges that Jamaat has links to Kashmir’s dominant militant group Hizbul Mujahedin. “All the activities must be lawful and overground,” he said, says the Constitution of Jamaat. “And no underground activity should be allowed.”

Bhat even denied that Jamaat was for Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. “There is no mention of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan in our constitution,” he said, adding the group has even not passed a resolution ever favouring Pakistan’s accession.