NEW DELHI, July 2: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has expressed the hope that militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir would accept a ceasefire to comply with the wishes of dominant international opinion, and following a nudge too from some of its own constituents, news reports said on Tuesday.
“I trust all of us will rise above hostilities, belligerence, (and) everything else, including intransigencies, and proceed with courage and conviction towards a peaceful solution of the issue,” APHC’s outgoing Chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying.
Separately, apparently launching a veiled criticizm on the APHC leadership, Sajjad Lone, son of the assassinated pro-freedom leader Abdul Gani Lone, was quoted as urging the group not to put any conditions to initiate a dialogue with India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Alleging that Hurriyat is not keen on initiating a dialogue with either New Delhi or Islamabad, Sajjad said: “It is Kashmiris who need to be keen on a dialogue as they are the ones who are suffering the most. Hurriyat is putting many pre-conditions before entering a dialogue with India and Pakistan.”
Speaking at a gathering on the Chehlum of his father on Monday at Handwara in Kupwara district, Sajjad said the Hurriyat leadership did not have the mandate of people as they were not elected through polls.
“Hurriyat had been bestowed with public trust and faith. It is time for them to take effective measures to end the sufferings of people,” the new head of People’s Conference group, a basic constituent of the 23-member APHC, said.
Significantly, no other Hurriyat leader was present at the gathering.
Asked if he felt upset over the recent refusal by the militant leadership to accept his proposal for a ceasefire, the APHC chairman said: “I never feel upset as a consequence of one reason or the other. I am always an optimist and will always see a ray of hope across all tunnels.”
Bhat was apparently left quite embarrassed recently after militants, including the Muttahida Jihad Council led by Hizbul Mujahideen supremo Syed Salahuddin, rejected any proposal for entering into a ceasefire and instead vowed to continue armed offensive more vigorously. Bhat had earlier stated that he would ensure a ceasefire only if troops were sent back to the barracks, human rights violations ended and ban on public meetings and all laws opposing humanity were withdrawn, PTI said.
The Hurriyat chairman said there were only two options available: one which led to sanity and the other to disaster. It was to be seen whether “those at the helm of affairs in New Delhi and Islamabad will rise to the occasion and work for a peaceful resolution of the issue.”
There has been speculation that Bhat has been meeting a string of diplomats and government officials in New Delhi, but he apparently declined to acknowledge that. “I am here because this is the last month of my tenure as chairman and I have come to thank my staff here,” he said.
Asked how did he assess the situation between India and Pakistan, he said: “De-escalation, negotiation and resolution of disputes, including Kashmir, will help the two countries build a monument of peace.
“The two leaders (Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf) have the courage to do it. Let us hope that they are remembered in years to come as peacemakers.”
In reply to a question whether the elections for the new All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman would be postponed because three of its executive members were in prisons, Bhat said: “There is no such provision. Elections are due in the last week of July. Let us see what happens.”
Three Hurriyat leaders — Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yaseen Malik and Sheikh Aziz — are lodged in various jails.