Moderate Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq may have had a secret meeting with the head of Pakistan intelligence agency Inter Services Intelligence Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha in Europe, although he denies that.
While the government interlocutor for J&K may be tasked with holding talks with 'all stakeholders', the central government is singing a very different tune in the Supreme Court, Aditi Phadnis points out.
Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin was among Kashmiri militant leaders who addressed a rally organised in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Tuesday to protest alleged human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to a National Crime Records Bureau report, a total of 356 cases of sedition -- as defined under section 124A of the IPC -- were registered and 548 people arrested between 2015 and 2020, out of which only six were convicted.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has ruled out resumption of talks with the Centre, saying that "genocide of Kashmiris and dialogue can't go together".
The efforts to forge unity among the various Kashmiri separatist groups received a jolt after hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani rejected the unity move of the moderate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday.
Rejecting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's statement that Kashmiri militants are terrorists, separatist leaders in the Kashmir Valley said he was 'ignorant about the sub-continent's history'.
A young man was killed and two others injured in firing by the Central Reserve Police Force on Saturday during protests in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir where a strike has been called by the hardline Hurriyat faction against the killing of two youths in Tral earlier this week.
Life in Kashmir was in Tuesday paralysed in view of a strike called by the hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani against the conviction of six Kashmiris in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case in New Delhi.
Separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday rejected Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement alleging them of stepping up violence with the help of elements from across the border."Kashmiris are struggling peacefully for their birthright but India uses its military power to suppress the peaceful and justified struggle," chairman of hard-line faction of Hurriyat Syed Ali Shah Geelani said.
Pakistan has assured that it would not put the core issue of Kashmir on the backburner, chairman of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said on Friday.
The founder of Lashkar-e-Tayiba also vowed to continue supporting Kashmiris.
Rejecting Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's offer of talks, pro-Pakistani hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Wednesday said that the solution to the Kashmir issue lies in tripartite talks, aimed at giving the right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Commenting on the statement by Chidambaram that the Centre is ready for talks with all shades of political opinion in the state, the hardline separatist leader said, "There is nothing new."
As suspense mounted over holding of the Indo-Pakistan National Security Advisor-level talks after both sides hardened their positions on the issue of Kashmiri separatists, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday called a press conference in New Delhi.
The JeI (J&K) also has several trusts for running schools to disseminate orthodox Islamic education, has a youth wing and has numerous publications for spreading its fundamentalist ideology.
"The Kashmiri people, like people everywhere, deserve their fundamental human rights... They should live free of fear and repression," Malala said.
The NIA is also probing all angles of the funding of separatist leaders.
Kashmiris protest against the killing of Amarnath pilgrims.
The foreign minister acknowledged that he spoke with Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz and India should not make it an issue.
The Mirwaiz has accused Dr Singh of not living up to the promises he made.
Geelani was operated at Tata Memorial Hospital on Monday and the doctors had successfully removed the malignant tumour from his only surviving kidney.
A fresh audio tape purportedly carrying his voice appeared in the social media in which the engineering-student-turned militant, Moosa, said that he was not representing Hizbul Mujahideen anymore.
Nasir was arrested along with two prominent businessmen.
Protests broke out in several areas in Jammu on Thursday against raising of Pakistani flags and pro-Pakistan slogans at the rally held by separatist leaders in Srinagar on Wednesday.
Pakistan was always sincere in resolving the Kashmir issue, but India had to give up its 'stubbornness', a Pakistan minister said.
An invitation by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to all the Kashmiri separatist leaders "for consultations" in Delhi ahead of Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks has touched off a controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party calling it "most unfortunate" and "old tactics".
The editorial said, "Such posturing will only doom Kashmir to a deadly spiral, where more brutal military tactics will feed more despair and more militancy".
The Hurriyat leaders are the real representatives of the Kashmiri people and India will have to accede to this fact, the foreign office spokesman said.
In the Kashmir Valley, we need to begin to make a distinction between an insurgent who fights the security forces and a terrorist who murders unarmed civilians, suggests Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Saeed called Geelani in Jammu and Kashmir and "expressed his concern" over the health of the Hurriyat leader, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an organisation founded by Saeed and seen as the parent of the LeT, said in a release from Lahore.
Geelani's supporters were demonstrating in front of his house in Srinagar to protest his house arrest.
Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz on met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the two are understood to have talked about bilateral relations.
Saeed said Pakistan government has added insult to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Singh.
The HM apprised Modi about the ground situation of the state assessed by the all-party delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on Septr 4 and 5.
The J&K chief minister said it is the 'happiest day' for him since coming to power last year, as the demand of the Kashmiri people for talks at the highest level has been fulfilled.
'Police records suggest one Kashmiri boy joined terrorist ranks every third day last year and that trend has continued,' says Karan Thapar.
The separatist had applied for a passport to allow him to visit his ailing daughter in Saudi Arabia.
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