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Kashmir: Home Minister meets Mufti as part of political dialogue |
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Taking forward the Centre’s initiative to engage political as well as non-political representatives of the Kashmiri people in dialogue, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had a one-on-one meeting with Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in New Delhi on February 15. He also met State Congress leader Abdul Gani Vakil. The political level dialogue is part of the Centre’s move to hear representatives of the state, including political parties, intellectuals and communities like the Gujjars and Kashmiri Pandits on their views and specific grievances. Last month, Patil had met former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and National Conference president Omar Abdullah as part of the process.
Simultaneously, the Home Ministry is learnt to have initiated a back-channel link with the separatists including moderate Hurriyat leaders to convince them to return to the negotiating table. Significantly, at least five top separatist leaders were in New Delhi last week, though for different reasons. They included Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Yasin Malik, Sayed Ali Shah Geelani, Sajjad Lone and Bilal Lone.
The separatists are learnt to have conveyed their concern about what they called coercion by mainstream political parties in the Valley to force people to vote in the recent civic elections in the Kashmir valley. They said that a ruling party used militants to force voters to cast votes in its favour.
It is also learnt that the Centre has sent an open invitation to front ranking Hurriyat leaders for a one-on-one meeting. The leaders who have been invited include Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Abdul Gani Bhat, Shabir Ahmed Shah and Sajjad Lone.
Meanwhile, newly elected municipal councillors in the Kashmir Valley are facing threats from terrorists. The National Conference has demanded that the elected councillors should be provided security so that they are able to function effectively.
In an indication of conditions improving, about 1300 Kashmiri migrant families have registered themselves in Jammu for returning to their homes in the Kashmir valley. State Revenue Minister Hakim Yasin said in Jammu that conditions are becoming more conducive for the safe return of the migrants. Presiding over a meeting of the apex committee for redressing the grievances of the migrants, the Minister said the state Government is determined to bring about the safe return of Kashmir pandit migrants.
Hurriyat leader arrested with fake currency
Delhi Police have arrested a senior Hurriyat Leader on charges of possessing fake Indian currency worth Rs. 1/- lakh and UAE Dirhams valued at Rs.12/- lakhs. Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League, a constituent of the Hurriyat, had collected a large amount of cash from the Pakistan High Commission and it is alleged that the money was meant for separatist outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir. A prominent leader of the Geelani faction of the Hurriyat, Sheikh Abdul Aziz had been hob-nobbing with visiting Pakistani dignitaries as part of an attempt to re-unite the split factions of the organisation. Intelligence agencies have for long been reporting flow of illegal money from Pakistani diplomats in New Delhi to fund insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
Aziz was picked up after his car was intercepted in Chanakyapuri on February 17 by the special cell of Delhi Police. The search of the car lead to the recovery of the cash. Aziz is reported to have confessed during interrogation that he had received Rs.13 lakhs in two installments last year in Srinagar. But he denied the allegations when he was produced before a court on February 18. He claimed that he had gone to the Pakistan High Commission to discuss the launch of the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad.
The Hurriyat leader’s arrest is similar to that of a previous incident where a Pakistan High Commission staffer was caught handing over cash to a Hurriyat activist, Anju Zamrooda Habib in February 2003. The case led to a crisis after India ordered expulsion of the Pakistan charge-d’affairs, Syed Jaleel Abbas Geelani, who had allegedly handed over the money to Habib.
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