Foreign militants' presence dangerous: JKLF

NEW DELHI, AUG. 19. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) said today the presence of foreign militants in the State was ``very dangerous'' for the Kashmiris and warned the mercenaries against creating hurdles in its `independence movement'.

``The presence of foreign mercenaries in the State is dangerous for the Kashmiris. However, if they create obstacles in our movement for independence, the JKLF is a potent force to fight them back'', the JKLF leader and general secretary, Mr. Haidar Hijazi said here. He said these mercenaries had their own agenda which would not help the `ongoing freedom movement'. `` ``They have no nationalistic contribution to the freedom struggle'', Mr. Hijazi said.

Ripples surface in APHC

The mass awareness campaign launched by the Hurriyat conference to highlight their side of story of Kashmir has once again led to rifts within the 23-party conglomerate with `hardliners' not supporting the idea but `moderates' still going ahead.

This idea has also led to `voice of dissension' from the second rung leadership who said the amalgam should try and stablise its roots in Jammu and Ladakh before targeting the people all over the country, Hurriyat insiders said here.

Though the Hurriyat delegation comprising the former chairman, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and the senior leader, Abdul Gani Lone claimed that the campaign meetings in Kolkata and Chennai were a success, the two leaders were told clearly that they would have to prove their representative character.

The story of Hurriyat conference about rigging in elections found no takers in last month's Kolkata conference, where the participants highlighted the fact that electoral malpractices were very common in other States as well.

The two leaders had also to cut a sorry figure after the organisers of conference on peace in Chennai clarified that neither Mirwaiz nor Lone had been invited to the inter-faith conference.

The two leaders held a meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama there and later claimed that he had supported their view and had invited them to Dharamshala for talks.

This led to a big controversy with political parties criticising the Dalai Lama for his comments, which were, however, denied by him.

Even the organisers of the conference had to call a press meet to deny the claims of the Hurriyat conference about any formal meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Prominent Gandhian, Ms. Nirmala Deshpande said the two leaders of the amalgam Farooq and Lone had not been invited to the meet in Chennai.

- UNI, PTI

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