Hurriyat to meet Opposition leaders

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, JULY 18. Not ruling out a dialogue with the Government of India, the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is coming up with a new plan for finding an amicable settlement to the Kashmir issue. It will now meet the leaders of the Opposition parties, including former Prime Ministers and is still waiting for a reply to the letter written to the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee.

Mr. Abdul Gani Lone, senior Hurriyat leader, said: ``We do not shy away from talking to anyone.'' He did not rule out talks with the Centre and said,``a letter has been already written to the Prime Minister of India and we are waiting for the reply.''

Going back to the Hurriyat's refusal to meet the Centre's interlocutor, Mr. K.C. Pant, Mr. Lone said: ``We did it on principles as we were given to understand during our informal talks that it was the matter of political leadership.''

To impress upon the political set-up that Kashmir's struggle was genuine, the Hurriyat, he said, would soon start meeting the Opposition. ``We want to facilitate a settlement as a basic party to the dispute.'' The Hurriyat leaders had no difference on a permanent solution. ``Yes, there are parties with different ideologies but the goal is same,'' he said responding to a question on why the JKLF boycotted the tea party in New Delhi.

Mr. Lone said Gen. Musharraf pleaded the Kashmir case during the Agra talks effectively. Their meeting with Gen. Musharraf was satisfactory. ``We are not his employees, we are an independent organisation which decided on its own, he listened to us and did not dictate anything,'' he said when asked whether Gen. Musharraf stressed upon evolving a mechanism to determine their representative character.

He clarified that Kashmiris had no special relations with Pakistan and ``we are stateless citizens''. Blaming the Centre for its ``rigid stand'', he said both the countries even if they failed at Agra could not avoid dialogue.

The APHC, according to Mr. Lone, may not press for the much controversial visit to Pakistan. ``I think it is not needed now but the Hurriyat executive has all the authority to decide about that,'' he told The Hindu. He denied the charges against three leaders of his party who he said ``were falsely implicated by police in the Charar-e-Sharief blast case''.

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