An unexpected meeting between the Centre’s interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir and prominent separatist leader and Shia cleric Maulvi Abbas Ansari here on Wednesday has set off fresh crisis in the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference.
Soon after the meeting being seen as “underhand” by Maulvi Abbas’s critics within the conglomerate but described by him as “unplanned”, the Hurriyat Conference has suspended its founding constituent Jammu and Kashmir Itehad-ul-Muslimeen. The Shia cleric and politician is the patron of the party.
Confirming it, Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that though the Itehad-ul-Muslimeen is represented in the conglomerate faction by Maulvi Abbas’s son, Maulvi Masroor Abbas, the party patron should not have violated the decision on the issue of meeting the interlocutors appointed by the Centre unanimously taken at a recent meeting of the Hurriyat Conference.
“We’re not against seeking a resolution of Kashmir problem through dialogue but the Hurriyat Conference is of the view that since the interlocutors have the mandate of only making certain recommendation to the government of India and can’t take decisions on their own, any engagement with them tantamount to wasting of time,” the Mirwaiz reiterated.
Maulvi Abbas admitted meeting interlocutors Dileep Padgoankar, Prof. Radha Kumar and M.M. Ansari at his Srinagar residence earlier during the day but claimed that he only served tea to the visitors and did not discuss anything with them in recognition of the Hurriyat Conference’s decision. “They arrived at my doorstep unexpectedly. It had not been scheduled. I can’t shut my doors on the visitors. But in deference to Islamic practice of virtue and disposition and Kashmir’s traditional warm hospitality, I served them tea but, at the same time, put across the Hurriyat Conference’s decision with regard to holding talks with them,” the 76-year-old cleric and politician said.
He added, “I also told them that since the Hurriyat Conference leadership has had a series of meetings with the government of India at the Prime Minister’s level it would be only a superfluous exercise to engage ourselves with a group of interlocutors appointed by it as has been decided unanimously by the conglomerate. Furthermore, I made its stance that Kashmir can be resolved only through a tripartite dialogue involving India, Pakistan and Kashmiri representatives clear to the visitors.”
The interlocutors had earlier at a press conference here disclosed that they had met Maulvi Abbas. “We called on him and discussed various issues,” Mr Padgoankar said.
Last month, the interlocutors virtually stirred up a hornet’s nest within the separatists’ camp by claiming that they were in touch with all of the leaders except Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Though the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by the Mirwaiz quickly came out with a statement disassociating itself with any such pastime, the Kashmir watchers termed the interlocutors’ claim immature and imprudent.