Hurriyat to be checkmated

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JUNE 15. The decision to house-detain two senior leaders of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, is being described here as part of a decision not to let the separatist voices vitiate the atmosphere in the run-up to the Vajpayee-Musharraf summit next month. The Hurriyat leaders had given a call that the Friday namaz at every mosque in the Kashmir Valley should be followed by a denunciation from the pulpit of ``desecration'' of mosques by the security forces.

The decision was to detain the ``more troublesome of the trouble- makers'' among the Hurriyat leaders. Officials were at pains to point out that only two senior Hurriyat leaders had been detained. For instance, two other senior leaders, Sheikh Abdul Aziz and Maulvi Umer Farooq, were allowed to go their way. While Mr. Aziz travelled to Sopore to address a congregation at a mosque and thereafter led a procession, Maulvi Farooq addressed the faithful at his traditional mosque, Jamaa Masjid. Both denounced the ``excesses'' of the security forces.

Two other members of the Hurriyat executive, Mr. Abdul Gani Lone and Maulvi Abbas, are not known to be in the habit of addressing congregations at mosques. The seventh member, Mr. Yaseen Malik, is abroad for medical treatment.

The decision of a section of the Hurriyat leadership to use Friday congregations to denounce ``state repression'' was a response to the all-too-apparent pro-active role the security forces have embarked upon against the militants, since the termination of the ``ceasefire.'' What is more, the security forces have not allowed themselves to be deterred by the militants' new strategy to use mosques as hideouts.

Syed Geelani is believed to have masterminded the idea that Friday congregations be used to denounce ``desecrations.'' He had even got the idea endorsed by the Jehad Council, headed by Syed Salauddin. Consequently the senior leaders were fanning out to various mosques when the security forces moved in to put the two of them under house arrest. From the Hurriyat leaders' point of view, a house arrest is far less glamourous an option; it offers very little television footage.

The decision to isolate the ``trouble-makers'' was probably influenced by the reports that the last APHC executive had witnessed a lot of bickering, accusations and counter- accusations among senior leaders.

As it is, the APHC finds itself rather marginalised in the proposed bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan. Some of the Hurriyat leaders are, therefore, out to vitiate the atmosphere. They are not to be allowed the satisfaction as per the official inclination.

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