MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 16: AJK leaders on Tuesday offered cautious response to the split in the All Parties Hurriyat Conference with calls to the alliance’s leaders to maintain unity in their ranks.

“The friction in the APHC is awful,” said Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan.

“The struggle for freedom will bring results (only) when we maintain unity in our ranks,” he said.

“Whosoever believes and makes efforts for liberation of Kashmir from Indian subjugation, we are with him,” he said when asked which Hurriyat faction the AJK government would recognize.

Sardar Sikandar’s views were echoed by former head of the National Kashmir committee, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan.

“Undoubtedly the differences are painful for us,” he said.

It was learnt that Sardar Qayyum had also spoken to some APHC leaders in Srinagar on telephone on Monday, but he did not disclose the details of his conversations.

People’s Party AJK chief Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry said he was waiting for the party policy on the development, which would be announced by PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

Muslim Conference President Sardar Attique Ahmed warned the Kashmiri leadership to learn from the experiences of Afghanistan.

“We must bear in mind that unity in our ranks is the most effective weapon with which we can fight India at all levels,” he said.

“We should not use our force against each other,” he said, requesting the “movement leadership to come out of the politics of victory and defeat.”

He said Kashmiris could not afford such politics, “particularly at this critical juncture of their struggle.”