Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key religious and separatist figure in Kashmir, has removed his designation as 'Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference' from his X profile, signaling a potential shift in the region's political landscape.
Two constituents of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in Jammu and Kashmir have announced they are severing all ties with separatist groups. Union Home Minister Amit Shah welcomed the decision, asserting it will strengthen India's unity. The Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement (JKPM) and the J&K Democratic Political Movement (JKDPM) have both distanced themselves from the separatist ideology, vowing allegiance to India and the Constitution. The JKPM, led by Shahid Saleem, and the JKDPM, led by Shafi Reshi, issued statements detailing their decision. Shah said the move is a big victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a developed, peaceful, and unified India. The APHC, which has been banned by the government, has been unable to address the legitimate aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Saleem said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that two more constituents of the Jammu and Kashmir-based Hurriyat Conference, J&K Tahreeqi Isteqlal and J&K Tahreek-I-Istiqamat, have abandoned separatism and pledged allegiance to the new India envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This development follows similar declarations from the Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement (JKPM) and the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Political Movement (JKDPM) on Tuesday. Shah stated that under Modi's leadership, separatism is on the decline and the unity of India is growing stronger in Kashmir.
Former All Party Hurriyat Conference Chairman Abdul Gani Bhatt has welcomed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's viewpoint that the Kashmir issue must be looked at from a fresh angle that may lead to finding an amicable solution to the problem.
Following recent serious differences that have surfaced in the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference over the issue of 'quiet dialogue' with the Centre, an extraordinary meeting of the conglomerate decided, on Monday, to suspend the party's office bearers and keep the various committees in suspended animation.
"My decision to join the moderate group is aimed at strengthening the separatist voice in Kashmir," Aziz said. "Kashmiris are the basic party to the dispute, and must be included in the ongoing peace process to make it meaningful and result-oriented," he added.
Leaders of the two factions of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference met in Srinagar on Thursday for the first time after their split in 2003. Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq, accompanied by another senior separatist leader of his group, visited the uptown Hyderpora residence of Syed Ali Shah Geelani for talks, which continued for over six hours.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Omar Abdullah on Thursday asked the leaders of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference group to hold talks with the government of India as well, after their return from Pakistan.
The Srinagar police detained chairman of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq along with other senior leaders of the group in Srinagar on Thursday.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been re-elected chairman of his group, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) for a term of three years. Geelani's term was to expire on Sunday and he was elected unopposed, according to a spokesman here.
While a verified Twitter handle of the Information and Public Relations department of Shopian claimed that the news about leaving of 'Kashmiri non-migrant Hindu population' was 'baseless', Ashwani Kumar Bhat, whose brother Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by terrorists on October 16, told reporters in Jammu that he has migrated and will never return to the Valley.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar and other towns on Thursday evening to scuttle Friday's proposed separatist march to Eidgah grounds in the city.
A general shutdown called by All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) headed by Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq on Thursday affected normal life across summer capital Srinagar and other district headquarters of the valley.
The moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq on Wednesday hailed the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement in which he had spoken 'of the need to take everybody forward within the ambit of humanity'.
The headquarters of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Sunday witnessed ugly scenes as rival supporters clashed with each other during a seminar.
A three-member moderate Hurriyat Conference delegation, led by chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, would leave New Delhi on a five-day visit to Pakistan on Thursday.
Expressing serious reservations regarding the court martial of army personnel involved in Machil fake encounter, the moderate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq on Friday said, "Machil and all such cases should be heard in civil courts under wide public gaze instead in the closed rooms."
All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq was on Tuesday afternoon detained by police outside the Rajbagh headquarters of the conglomerate while on he was on his way to curfew-bound Shopian town in south Kashmir.
Authorities imposed restrictions in certain areas of Srinagar on Saturday to scuttle a protest march called by separatists to coincide with Martyr's Day
The moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference has urged the Narendra Modi government to adopt the path of Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Atal Behari Vajpayee with regard to Kashmir.
Authorities clamped strict restrictions in Srinagar and north Kashmir's Sopore town to foil a separatist march on Friday.
Authorities on Tuesday imposed restrictions in old city in Srinagar to foil plans of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference to hold a rally at Eidgah to commemorate the death anniversary of its two assassinated leaders.
Efforts of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq to smoothen the relations among the various constituents of the separatist conglomerate fell flat as supporters of the various constituents shouted down each other at the meeting of the executive body on Tuesday afternoon.
The Moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference Thursday served a show cause notice on three of its senior leaders for their recent utterances and causing ruckus at a recent meeting of the APHC executive.
Talking to rediff.com, APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq said 'Moulvi Abbas, by meeting the interlocutors, had violated the conglomerate's policy decision'.
Authorities on Thursday placed the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq under house arrest to scuttle a rally called by the separatist group.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, has denied news reports that appeared in a leading national paper saying that he did not want travel documents to be issued to rival APHC group chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani when an AHPC delegation visited Pakistan in 2005.
Supporters of Mirwaiz took to streets shouting slogans and pelted stones at passing vehicles in the old city areas, stronghold of the moderate APHC leader.
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