|
All Party Hurriyat Conference
Tariq
Bhat
Srinagar: Formed
on July 31, 1993, the All Party Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference
(APHC) is a conglomerate of secessionist Jammu and Kashmir
parties and leaders with separatist record ever since the
partition of the subcontinent.
The
APHC enjoys an observer's status in the Organisation of Islamic
Countries (OIC). (The OIC also has a contact group on Kashmir.)
The
Conference believes Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory
and India's political and military control on it is unjustified.
It seconds the Pakistani claim that Kashmir is the unfinished
agenda of the partition and needs to be solved as per the
aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Despite commanding
influence on the people, the coalition largely represents
the sentiments of Muslims of the state, especially, the Kashmiris.
Soon
after the eruption of militancy in Kashmir in 1989, a separatist
political front Tehreeki Hurriyat Kashmir (THK) with 10 constituents
and headed by advocate Mian Qayoom came into being. The
rise
of militancy is widely believed as a fallout of
the controversial 1987 Assembly elections, in which the anti-India
parties in Kashmir united under the rubric of Muslim Mutahida
Mahaz (Muslim United Front) to oust the National Conference,
the traditional ruling elite.
The
THK's members were: Jamat-e-Islami, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation
Front, Muslim Conference, Islamic Student's League, Mahaz-e-Azadi,
Muslim Khataween Markaz, Bar Association, Itehadul Muslimeen,
Dukhtaran-e-Milat and Jamiat-e-Ahlihadees. The THK was a union
of leaders and political parties that disapproved India's
control on the state since 1947, e.g. Jamat-e-Islami, politico-emotional
and religious leanings of which towards Pakistan is no secret.
Since its inception in 1950s, Jamat-e-Islami has strived for
making India's control on Kashmir untenable by a madarsa movement
in Kashmir.
The
JKLF leaders, right from it's founder Maqbool Bhat, who was
hanged in Tihar jail on charges of killing an Indian embassy
official in London on February 11, 1984, represented youth
disgruntled with India especially with the National Conference.
The
Islamic Students League headed by Shakeel Bakshi, a religious
organisation, from the very onset has deemed Kashmir's accession
to India as forced and un-Islamic. It's cadres, generally
youth with fundamental tendencies, have always yearned for
Kashmiris accession to Pakistan.
Mahaz-e-Azadi,
led by Inayatullah Anrabi, has traditionally held the opinion
that Kashmir should accede to Pakistan on the basis of religion,
geography and emotions. Muslim Conference, led by the present
Hurriyat Chairman, Abdul Gani Bhat, also calls for Kashmir's
accession to Pakistan. The party shares a chord with the Muslim
Conference of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) which has been
in power there for a long time. The other members of the THK
are more or less a product of militancy.
However,
the THK functioned with little influence and impact in the
separatist political order till Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq,
chairman of the J&K Awami Action Committee (J&KAAC),
called a meeting of the religious and social and political
organisation at Mirwaiz Manzil on December 27, 1992 to launch
a political front against the alleged growing repression of
the Kashmiris by security forces.
The
meeting referred its suggestion to a committee of members
comprising, M M Mubarki, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Moulvi Abass
Ansari,Yousf-ul-Umar, Shabir Ahmed Sidiqi, S Hamid, Ghulam
Muhammad Bhat and Peer Hafizullah Mukhdoomi.
The
committee, in March 1993, decided to float The APHC. The APHC
soon appointed a team of legal experts for framing the constitution
(See table below).
The legal experts included Justice (retd) Mufti Bahaudin Farooqi,
former chief justice of J&K High Court, Nazir Ahmed Ronga,
advocate, J&K High Court, Muzaffer Jan, district and session
judge (retd) and Mian Abdul Qayoom, advocate.
|
APHC
Fact File
|
The
Constitution
The
Constitution of the APHC says: "The APHC shall be
a union of political, social, and religious parties of
the state of Jammu and Kashmir with its head office in
Srinagar."
It spells the objectives of the conglomerate as:
*
To make peaceful struggle to secure for the people of
Jammu and Kashmir the exercise of the right of self
determination in accordance with the UN charter and
the resolutions of adopted by the UN security council,
however, the exercise of the right of self determination
shall also include the right to independence.
*
To make endeavours for an alternative negotiated settlement
of the Kashmir dispute amongst all the three parties
to the dispute -- India, Pakistan and people of the
Jammu and Kashmir -- under the auspices of UN or any
other friendly countries, provided that such settlement
reflects the will and aspirations of the people of the
state.
*
To project ongoing struggle, in the state before the
nations and governments of the world in its proper perspective
as being a struggle directed against the forcible and
fraudulent occupation of the state by India and for
the achievement of the right of the self determination
of its people.
*
To make endeavours, in keeping with the Muslim majority
character of the state, for promoting the build up of
a society based on Islamic values, while safeguarding
the rights and interests of the non-Muslims.
*
To make endeavours for the achievements of any objectives
which may be ancillary or incidental to the objectives
specified above.
Structural
organisation
The
Executive Council:
The executive council shall consist of seven members
from the seven executive parties. They are: Syed Ali
Shah Geelani (Jamat-e-Islami) Umar Farooq (Awami Action
Committee), Sheikh Abdul
Aziz (Peoples League), Moulvi Abass Ansari (Itehad-ul-Muslimeen),
Profesor Abdul Gani Bhat (Muslim Conference), Yasin
Malik (JKLF) and Abdul Gani Lone (Peoples Conference).
The
chairman shall hold the office for two years. He shall
vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the
executive council. He may at any time resign his office
by submitting his resignation to the executive council.
General
Council: It had more than 23 parties and organisations
as members, including traders and employee unions. While
the membership of the executive council as per the constitution
can not be increased, the general council can accommodate
more members if deemed so or if any party or organisation
seeks membership.
Quorum:
The quorum for the meetings in the executive council
is four members.
Official
Spokesman: The executive council may appoint one
of its members as the official spokesman of the APHC
to explain the view point if the APHC.
Finance:
The executive committee shall also act as the finance
committee of the APHC.
|
|
