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Two more separatists to boycott polls

The Jammu & Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party of Hashim Qureshi and expelled Jamaat-i-Islami leader Abdul Khaliq Haneef, one of the brains behind the formation of a 'third front' in the state, said they would not participate.

"India by announcing the polls has lost a golden opportunity to solve the Kashmir issue," Qureshi said.

"We are not against the democratic process, but when it is carried out over dead bodies, it loses all meaning," he said after an emergency meeting of the JKDLP.

Terming the announcement of the poll schedule a "deliberate attempt to misguide the world community and human rights organisations", Qureshi said, "Nothing will be accepted without the consent of Kashmiris."

In a separate statement, Khaliq Haneef said, "The hasty announcement of election dates has exposed India's intentions once and for all."

Ruling out participation in the election, he said, "Polls are no solution to the dispute. India has made the exercise further useless by not qualifying it with an assurance for a solution to the Kashmir issue."

PTI

Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage

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