Kashmir militant groups on Tuesday accused Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf of a 'complete U-turn to strengthen Indian claims on Kashmir'.
Chairman of the breakaway All Parties Hurriyat Conference group Syed Ali Shah Geelani asked his Muzaffarabad based 'rank and file to join the protests being presently carried out there by various militant organisations against the Pakistan president'.
Geelani also said that the 'implementation of the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir was the only possible solution to the Kashmir issue'.
"Trying any other solutions would only worsen the existing situation in Kashmir," Geelani said.
Munib-ur-Rehman, the commander of the Jamait-ul-Mujahideen, a constituent of the Muzaffarabad-based United Jihad Council of militant groups fighting for Kashmir's secession from India, said in a statement: "Musharraf has relegated the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir to cold storage and has instead made such alternative suggestions that only helped India and emboldened it to lay fresh claims on Gilgit and Baltistan."
The statement was also highly critical of Musharraf for 'according a warm welcome to the National Conference president Omar Abdullah during his visit to Pakistan which amounted to rubbing salt on the bleeding wounds of the people of Kashmir'.
The Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front accused the Pakistan president of changing 'Pakistan's traditional stand on Kashmir, especially after the recent visit of US President George W Bush'.
Local newspapers have been carrying statements issued by various militant groups that are highly critical of Musharraf in the wake of media reports that senior militant commanders like Syed Salah-ud-Din, the supreme commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar, the chief commander of the Al-Umar Mujahideen had been placed under house arrest along with some other militant leaders for staging protests against the Pakistan president.
