Hurriyat team's Pak. visit in doubt

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 10. Mr. Yaseen Malik, JKLF leader and senior member of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, is scheduled to leave for the United States later tonight. Mr. Malik is among the five members named by the APHC as members of its ``delegation'' to visit Pakistan to further the peace process. With Mr. Malik's decision to leave for the U.S. (for medical reasons), the prospects of the APHC team's visit to Pakistan have become rather bleak.

Along with Mr. Abdul Gani Lone and the Mirwaiz, Maulvi Umar Farooq (the two other members of the proposed delegation), Mr. Malik is regarded as a ``moderate'' and a ``pro-dialogue'' voice. That the Centre gave Mr. Malik the travelling documents, and has so far refused to give a passport to Syed Ali Shah Geelani (regarded as a most pro-Pakistan and a confirmed hard- liner), suggests that by attrition the APHC's proposed visit to Pakistan is sought to be reduced to a non-starter.

The APHC executive is tentatively scheduled to meet on March 12 in Srinagar to chalk out its strategy, especially in the context of the categorical announcement by Mr. L. K. Advani, Union Home Minister, in the Lok Sabha a few days ago that no mediatory role was being envisaged for the Hurriyat. The ``pro- dialogue'' faction in the APHC believes Mr. Advani's statement was totally unnecessary and has raised doubts about the sincerity of the Prime Minister's peace initiative in Jammu and Kashmir.

A section of the APHC has reportedly come to believe that there is a concerted effort to sabotage the Prime Minister's initiative. Dr. Farooq Abdullah's Government, the Union Home Ministry and Syed Ali Shah Geelani are suspected of having a convergence of interests in derailing the peace initiative. It is pointed out that the Centre has failed to take any concrete step that can be deemed to have furthered the objectives of the Prime minister's February 22 statement, the security forces are back to the pre-ceasefire mode, resulting in hardship for the common man.

In particular, Mr. Abdul Gani Lone, the most vocal and forthright advocate of a political dialogue, has alleged that the security forces are singling out for harassment and intimidation his supporters in northern Kashmir. The whole idea, according to him, seems to be to vitiate the atmosphere for peace. ``If the Prime Minister really wants peace, and if the security officers believe the Prime Minister wants peace, then we do not understand why the forces continue to be so highhanded towards the common man,'' argues a Lone aide.

There is a widespread perception that Mr. Advani's hard-line has emboldened Mr. Geelani in his intransigence. Because of Mr. Advani's various anti-Geelani pronouncements it has been possible for the hardliners in the Jamat-e-Islami to defeat the majority move from within to replace him as the organisation's representative on the APHC executive.

On the other hand, the reactivated Jammu and Kashmir Awami National Conference of Mr. G.M.Shah has intensified its verbal offensive against the Hurriyat, asking the APHC leadership to declare whether it was waging a political battle or a religious battle.

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