NEWSLINKS US EDITION NEWS DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ARCHIVES
Basharat Peer in Srinagar
The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, on Sunday said that voter turnout in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election is 'irrelevant' as the 'Kashmir dispute' will remain.
"The only difference the elections will make is that some people may get ministerial berths or a seat in the legislative assembly," he said.
Bhat's statement, said political observers, is not surprising considering the poor response to Hurriyat's anti-election campaign.
In fact, when the J&K election dates were announced the APHC had dilly-dallied for weeks before announcing a boycott call.
The poll boycott efforts of the 23-party amalgam also received a setback when one its constituents, Sajad Lone led People's Conference, put up proxy candidates in north Kashmir.
"We did not want to be a part of the electoral process positively or negatively. And we did not launch a vigorous anti-election campaign because the people know well why they should not vote. It is their sons who have been killed, it is their houses that have been burnt and it is the honour of the people that been trampled upon," Bhat said when pointed out the poor response to the anti-election campaign. "I am also afraid that the election would not be free and fair and whatever votes would be cast, would be due to coercion by the security forces."
Asked about the threat to the voters from the militants, Bhat claimed, "They have not killed any voter."
Those in the electoral fray, especially the National Conference, are critical of the Hurriyat Conference.
"Hurriyat is facing a crisis of ideology. Each constituent of Huriyat is pushing his own agenda. Lone brothers are contesting through proxy candidates and Umar Farooq is in the USA, not toeing the Hurriyat boycott theory," National Conference president Omar Abdullah said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has welcomed the Hurriyat's talks with Ram Jethmalani-led Kashmir Committee and has invited leaders of the separatist amalgam to hold talks with Kashmiri groups in Pakistan, senior APHC leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said.
Farooq, who was in New York to attend the meeting of the contact group of the Organisation of Islamic Conference on Kashmir, in separate meetings, briefed Musharraf and Foreign Minister Inamul Haq about the Kashmir Committee.
"They expressed their approval of the effort," Farooq was quoted as saying by the Pakistani daily Dawn.
But the Kashmir Committee has made it clear that it would not meet Pakistan's National Kashmir Committee until there was a 'warmer response' from that side.
Maintaining that his committee was intending to find a durable and honourable solution to the Kashmir imbroglio, Jethmalani said, "It is [Sardar Abdul] Qayyum of PKNC, who sent us an e-mail, extending complete support to us."
To a question whether some militant or radical groups might try to sabotage his peace mission, the noted criminal lawyer did not rule out such a policy but refrained from blaming Musharraf for this. "As a lawyer, I will give him a benefit of doubt. Genuinely Islamabad may not have a control over the militants," Jethmalani said.
"Even if Pakistan today decided to co-operate with India in ending the cross-border terrorism, one should not forget about hundreds of militants, who have infiltrated already into the state earlier," he said.
With inputs from agencies
Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
