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Lone's party may leave Hurriyat

Bilal Gani Lone, representative of the People's Conference in the separatist All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, said on Sunday that his party would have to rethink its continuation in the 23-party amalgamation if its style of functioning remained unchanged.

"I think the time has come for the Hurriyat Conference to change its ways... [and go] out to the people with their programme or else People's Conference will have to rethink and draw its own charter," the elder son of slain People's Conference founder Abdul Gani Lone told the Press Trust of India in a wide-ranging interview.

Bilal Lone, however, refused to say categorically if his party was thinking of leaving the Hurriyat.

He said he did not have any personal differences with other Hurriyat Conference leaders, but did not agree with the way they function.

"I am not for weakening the Hurriyat Conference, but times have changed and we'll have to change too. Hurriyat has to rise above holding meetings and issuing press statements," he remarked.

Bilal Lone said India, Pakistan and Kashmiris missed out on a "golden opportunity" to resolve the tangle when they failed to act upon the suggestions of American Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"India rejected the proposals outright and Kashmiri leaders failed to react in a statesmanlike way to the US interest in resolving the issue," he lamented.

PTI

Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage

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