Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: www.expressindia.com
Date: December 12, 2001
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=5415
New Delhi, December 11: Fresh differences
have cropped up between the Hurriyat conference and Pakistan with some
of the senior leaders of the amalgam criticising "moves by certain agencies"
to create a parallel to the 23-party conglomerate in the state.
Disturbed over the formation of
some of the outfits, senior Hurriyat leaders including its chairman Abdul
Gani Bhat criticised "some agencies for attempting to create a parallel
to the amalgam".
Bhat, along with another senior
Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Lone, was attending a seminar on human rights
in Srinagar where the two leaders besides resorting to veiled criticism
to Pakistan exchanged "unpleasentaries" between them.
The Hurriyat leaders' speeches reflect
the growing concern over the reported moves by Pakistan's intelligence
agencies to "pamper" some new leaders and groups like Islamic Student's
League, People's League and Siad-ul-Lah Tantray's group in Jammu.
Hurriyat Conference has been struggling
to keep its flock together and has even voiced this concern in meetings
with officials in the Pakistani High Commission. Lone went a step ahead
and criticised the act of Jaish-e-Mohammed in carrying out a blast outside
the Srinagar Assembly. However, Bhat immediately intervened and asked Lone
to keep quiet, which, however, resulted in an exchange of unpleasanteries,
amalgam sources said.
Bhat, who has been finding himself
at the receiving end, does not want any statement from the Hurriyat Conference
which would annoy militants especially the foreign mercenaries, the sources
said.
Simmering differences between Hurriyat
Conference and Pakistan had earlier started coming to the fore over utilisation
of funds by the former which resulted in boycott of Iftar Party hosted
by Pakistani High Commissioner by the entire executive council of 23-party
conglomerate.
Several leaders of the Hurriyat
Conference had been asked to provide accounts for the money provided by
various organisations, majority of them from Pakistan, insiders said. Hurriyat
chairman has also come in for a sharp criticism from firebrand Jamaat-e-Islami
leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for his unilateral ceasefire offer.
Though Bhat always seeks to play
down his differences with Geelani, insiders within the amalgam said the
cold war between the two has been going on ever since the former assumed
charge and spoke in a moderate tone on resolving the Kashmir issue. This
has also raised a feeling among insiders that Geelani might walk out of
the Hurriyat Conference and form another party. Hurriyat constitution prohibits
anyone from going public with his complaint, which has to be raised at
the amalgam's platform.
