A day after an all party delegation reached out to separatists in Kashmir, moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday accused the Centre of not making a serious effort to address the Kashmir issue saying talks were not possible in a coercive atmosphere.
Leaders of the pro-dialogue moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference including the conglomerate chairman, Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq, were placed under house arrest on Thursday by the authorities in Srinagar to thwart the proposed march and sit-in by them on World Human Rights Day.Almost all the senior separatist leaders of the moderate group, including Mirwaiz himself, professor Abdul Gani Bhat, Shabir Shah, Naeem Ahmad Khan were placed under house arrest.
Separatists and mainstream Peoples Democratic Party have been dismissive of the report submitted by Kashmir interlocutors to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram Wednesday.
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.
After People's League chief Sheikh Abdul Aziz last week, Shabir Shah has joined the moderate separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq.
Addressing the congregation at the historic Jamia Masjid in old city Srinagar on Friday afternoon, the Mirwaiz said: "We will oppose all efforts aimed at fanning division of the Kashmiri Muslims on sectarian lines. If need be, we will expose the elements and institutions patronised by the government for the purpose."
The hardline faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, however, said it was no permanent solution to the Kashmir issue.
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.
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.
Restrictions were imposed in old city areas of Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar on Wednesday to foil separatist marches to the graveyard of martyrs who laid down their lives protesting the autocratic rule of the Dogras in 1931.
Restrictions were imposed on public movement on early Saturday in areas falling under nine police stations in the old city of Srinagar to scuttle a separatist rally and construction of 'martyr's wall' by the moderate separatist conglomerate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, has welcomed United States President Barack Obama's stance on the Kashmir dispute."President Obama offered help in facilitating the negotiations between India and Pakistan as the trust between the two key parties has been shattered. We, the people of Kashmir, are happy with the outcome. We have never ever called for third party mediation," he said.
Chairman of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq rejected the report saying 'it is wastage of time'.
Kashmir is reeling under intense cold wave with minimum temperatures dropping to five degrees below the freezing point. The effect of the cold wave is compounded by equally severe power cuts and freezing of pipes carrying portable water. Mukhtar Ahmen reports.
Geelani, who is visiting Jammu on November 12 and 13 to finalise the modalities of the talks, said the amalgam also plans to hold seperate meetings with Dogras of Jammu and Buddhists of Ladakh at a later date.
Curfew-like-restrictions were imposed on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar and other towns to scuttle the separatist called marches.
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.
Moderate separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq on Friday categorically denied that "any quiet dialogue was going on between them and the Centre".
Life was paralyzed in Jammu and Kashmir capital Srinagar and some other towns on Saturday in protest against the killing of a top Muslim cleric on Friday in a powerful blast.
Fifteen people have been reported killed after a passenger bus fell into a gorge in Reasi area of Jammu district
Separatist groups in Kashmir on Thursday reacted angrily to the death sentence awarded to two locals, who were held guilty by a Delhi court in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case, in which 13 persons were killed.The moderate and hard-line groups of the separatist conglomerate All Parties Hurriyat Conference, headed by Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani respectively, have called for a protest shutdown on Friday against the death sentence.
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.
Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, the chief spokesman of the separatist conglomerate, said APHC's 'self governance was not something of a concession like autonomy.'
The Mirwaiz, currently on a visit to Pakistan had on Saturday sought an 'end to the armed struggle'.
However, the APC failed to make any headway in his proposed formation of working groups as some political parties opposed the move.
A strike to mark the death anniversaries of two senior separatist leaders affected normal life in Srinagar and some other parts of the Valley on Wednesday. Markets and educational institutions remained shut in Srinagar because of the strike, called by the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which is headed by Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq. A rally to commemorate the death anniversaries of the two separatist leaders is scheduled to be held in Srinagar later today.
In conversation with All-Party Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.
"I got the invitation from the Pakistan High Commission on Tuesday," Geelani said.
Mirwaiz Farooq, who is also a Muslim religious head, feels that the Friday meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore has given a fresh hope not only to people of the two nations but to the entire South Asian region.
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.
Cutting across ideological differences, political parties and separatists in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday welcomed the unilateral three-day ceasefire announced by the United Jehad Council, saying the Centre should reciprocate the gesture. "It is a good move which should have come earlier," said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference. UJC chief Syed Salahuddin had announced the unilateral ceasefire from Oct 12 for Eid-ul-Fitr.
Javadekar was at the event, where presence of his ministerial colleague V K Singh last year had drawn flak from the media, for around 20 minutes, and extended his 'best wishes' to the Pakistani people on the sidelines.
All opposition members of the parliamentary panel on the Waqf Amendment Bill were suspended for a day on Friday amid continuous protests and accusations against Chairman Jagdambika Pal of steam-rolling through the proceedings.
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'.
Authorities imposed curfew-like-restrictions in old city areas of Srinagar to foil a rally by the separatist Awami Action Committee headed by Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq on Friday.
Moderate Hurriyat leaders Abdul Gani Bhat and Lone brothers -- Sajjad and Bilal, who have been critical of terrorists recently, stayed away from Pakistan National Day celebrations where People's Democratic Party leader Maulvi Ifthikhar Hussain Ansari was a surprise guest. Both moderate and hard-line factions of the Hurriyat Conference were represented by their chairmen Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani respectively at the Pakistan Day celebrations.
The separatist leaders were told that "restrictions have been imposed on their movement in the national capital" ahead a possible talks between NSA Sartaj Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
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."
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