ISLAMABAD, July 28: The AJK government on Sunday sent a minister, Haider Farooq, to hold talks with Azad Kashmir All Parties Hurriyet Conference leadership at the APHC office.
The APHC had severed its relations with the government citing its failure in meeting the demands of the liberation struggle and the immigrants and had demanded its replacement with a revolutionary command council.
An impression developed on Saturday that the minister had avoided meeting the APHC leadership was denied by the Hurriyet leaders.
AJK APHC Convener Mohammad Siddique Ginai told Dawn after meeting the minister: “Apparently things have started moving in the right direction, the minister accepted all issues raised by us as genuine and promised another meeting with Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan to help resolve them.”
Asked about APHC’s harsh stance against the AJK government, Ginai said the demand of setting up a revolutionary command council in the state was based on the fact that in its present state the AJK administration had failed to play its pledged role of base camp for the liberation struggle.
He confirmed that the Hurriyet leaders would not visit any AJK functionary but said it had not closed doors to talks.
Ginai said that in his view running of administration in AJK could be done by bureaucracy and the role of the state government was to project the Kashmir issue, as it was free of international as well as Indian pressure, which unfortunately was not being done.
He, however, made it clear that India or any other inimical force would not be allowed to cash on the differences
Referring to the conference’s row with President’s Kashmir Committee Chairman Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, he said: “Sardar sahib is an undisputed Kashmiri leader provided he avoids statements which negate his own stance on the Kashmir issue.”
He referred to the statement of Sardar Qayyum suggesting that there was no harm in contesting the state legislative polls if Indian forces withdrew from there. “It was unacceptable as well as unbelievable for Kashmiris to have been uttered by a person of Sardar Qayyum’s stature,” he commented.
Meanwhile, the APHC and People’s Party AJK in a statement said the United States should play an urgent role for the solution of the Kashmir dispute keeping the realities existing in held Kashmir in view so that human rights violations were ceased and the political detainees got freed.
The joint statement was issued after a meeting between Hurriyet leaders and PP leader Barrister Sultan Mehmud.
They discussed the situation arising out of the detention of APHC leaders, including Syed Ali Gilani, Yasin Malik, Ghulam Nabi, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Ghulam Mohammad Habib, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai and Saadullah Tantray.
They condemned Farooq Abdullah’s government and commended the protest movement launched under the leadership of Javed Ahmed Mir.