The Kashmir interlocutors on Wednesday went past the Hurriyat resistance by having talks with senior leader Moulana Abbas Ansari, who, in turn, lost his executive council seat in the separatist body for this act of supposed indiscipline.
“We met Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (a Hurriyat component) head Moulana Abbas Ansari in the morning to discuss ways and means to carry forward the dialogue process that would lead to a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue,” said chief interlocutor and reputed journalist Dileep Padgoankar in a press meet in Srinagar.
The two other interlocutors, academic Radha Kumar, and former information commissioner MM Ansari, were also present.
The Mirwaiz faction of the Hurriyat, which had declined the interlocutors’ invitation for a round table conference last week, immediately took action against Abbas.
“One of the Hurriyat constituents has violated the collective decision of the conglomerate and its membership has been placed under suspension,” the Mirwaiz told Hindustan Times.
The suspension stands till the Hurriyat meets again next week.
“All who violate the collective decision will face the same fate,” said the Mirwaiz, who has put forward four demands before getting into a dialogue with New Delhi. They include releasing political prisoners, revoking laws such as the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, taking the army off populated areas and ending alleged human rights abuses.
{{/usCountry}}“All who violate the collective decision will face the same fate,” said the Mirwaiz, who has put forward four demands before getting into a dialogue with New Delhi. They include releasing political prisoners, revoking laws such as the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, taking the army off populated areas and ending alleged human rights abuses.
{{/usCountry}}Abbas’ Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen is an executive council member of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella body headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
Sources told HT the interlocutors were scheduled to meet another executive member of the Hurriyat, Aga Syed Yusuf Al-Moosavi Al-Safavi, also a Shia, on Thursday.
The three-member team of interlocutors was appointed by the union home ministry in October last year in the backdrop of street protests, which continued from June to September.