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TARIQ BHAT
SRINAGAR, NOV 25: AMID confusion and dissent over the reported secret talks between the jailed Hurriyat Conference (HC) leaders and the Centre, Umar Farooq, the acting Hurriyat chairman, air-dashed to Delhi on Wednesday to ascertain the truth.
Umar, according to a Hurriyat staffer, will first meet senior leader Abdul Gani Lone and then the two will travel to Jodhpur, Rajasthan to meet other jailed leaders.
On his return, Umar will brief the council members over the reality of the `behind the bars' talks. He has assured to put facts before the members in black and white, the staffer said.
The acting chairman came under fire in the Monday's general council meet over the reported secret talks and his willingness to talk to the Centre without the involvement of Pakistan in the first phase. Top sources said several general council members sought an explanation from Umar for not involving Pakistan in the first phase.
Umar mostly came under fire from members, who are for Kashmir's accession to Pakistan. TheJamat-e-Islami, Anjuman-e-Islam Jamiat-e-Hamdainya, Muslim Conference and even the Awami Action Committee of which Umar happens to be president, favour merger of Kashmir with Pakistan.
Some members, sources said, accused him of sidelining Pakistan and sought an explanation on his statement. Umar had told The Indian Express that Hurriyat was ready to talk to the Centre without the involvement of Pakistan in the first phase if they were formally approached for talks.
The meeting of the general council, which has 24 members, was held to deliberate over reports that the Centre had opened an unofficial channel with the jailed Hurriyat leaders through intermediaries.
Sources said the members also made a scathing attack on Umar for not reacting to an interview by senior leader Abdul Gani Lone in which he had said that a ``solution could be found even without UN intervention''. Lone was referring to the UN resolutions on Kashmir.
The meeting generated so much heat that Hafizullah Makdoomi of thePeople's Conference had to intervene to pacify the agitated members. The members drew the acting chairman's attention to the constitution of the Hurriyat which says that ``solution to Kashmir problem lies in trilateral talks between India, Pakistan and genuine representatives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.''
Some order was restored, sources said, after one of the members informed them of his recent meeting with jailed leaders on October 24, wherein Syed Ali Shah Geelani swore that they were not engaged in any secret talks with the Centre.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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