Hurriyat has no say in Kashmir: Shah

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 10. This is the season for every Kashmiri player to throw his hat in the ``peace-process'' ring. Today it was the turn of the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mr. Gul Mohammed Shah, to announce that he would hold next month a two- day conference, in Jammu, of leaders and intellectuals from both sides of the Line of Control.

Mr. Shah, who has his own party, the Awami National Conference, held a press conference here and declared that the only way out of the Kashmir problem was a tripartite dialogue involving India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He welcomed the peace moves made by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Pakistani ruler, General Pervez Musharraf.

An estranged brother-in-law of Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Mr. Shah reserved his most trenchant comment for the All-Party Hurriyat Conference leadership. ``They do not represent the wishes of people even in the Kashmir valley, forget about people from Jammu and Ladakh. They could not even win the hearts of the people in their locality, what good they could do for the entire population of the State,'' asked Mr. Shah sarcastically.

Advocating a dialogue with Pakistan, Mr. Shah cautioned against over-dependence on the Hurriyat Conference to act as a mediator. ``Let the ice be broken by allowing the Hurriyat to go to Pakistan, but the Hurriyat did not even represent all Kashmiri Muslims, leave alone people from Jammu and Ladakh areas.

``Kashmiri Muslims are also with Dr. Farooq Abdullah, the Congress and the Communists. How can the Hurriyat claim to be their sole representative,'' he wanted to know. Though the Hurriyat did not represent all the Kashmiri Muslims and was divided between the pro-autonomy and pro-Pakistan groups, there was no harm in allowing them to go to Pakistan. One section of the Hurriyat could even stay behind to talk with the Indian Government, he suggested.

Attacking the Hurriyat, Mr. Shah said ``it is a force but its strength is dwindling every day'' due to lack of ideological clarity. ``They have to decide whether they are a religious or a political organisation or whether it has faith in the process of dialogue.''

Mr. Shah was in the city to promote his formula of consensus which entails inviting nearly 500 ``representatives and intellectuals'' from Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to the Jammu conference where they are expected to intensify their search for peace.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Next     : NDA team releases report on West Bengal situation