The Hindu : Hurriyat forced to close down office in Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 10, 2003

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Hurriyat forced to close down office in Delhi

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI FEB. 9. Facing the heat after two of its activists were arrested on charges of acting as conduits for facilitating the flow of funds to terrorists in the Kashmir Valley, the All-Party Hurriyat Conference was forced to close down its office in a South Delhi residential colony today.

The step comes three days after the Hurriyat spokesman, Shabir Ahmad Dar, and a woman activist, Anjum Zamrooda Habib, were booked by the Delhi Police on charges of channelling funds to terrorist organisations.

The Hurriyat has been operating the Kashmir Awareness Bureau from a rented accommodation in Shivalik Nagar since 1995.

It was asked to vacate the premises by the house owner, according to police sources. The owner was apparently "under pressure'' after the recent disclosures which sparked something of a diplomatic row between India and Pakistan.

Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal staged a demonstration outside the Kashmir Awareness Bureau office on Saturday, demanding that the premises be vacated. The office was also raided by the Delhi Police on February 6.

The office supervisor, Gulfam Ahmed, said that the Hurriyat had decided to shut down the office after a notice was served on it by the landlord.

It would be up to the Hurriyat's executive committee to decide if it would like to set it up in another location here.

The Hurriyat chairman, Abdul Gani Bhat, said on Friday that the amalgam was contemplating closing down the office due to alleged police harassment.

`Carrot and stick approach'

PTI reports from Srinagar:

Mr. Bhat described the moves to close down the APHC office in Delhi and the release on parole of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, senior leader of the conglomerate, as ``a carrot and stick approach'' towards the Kashmiri leadership, and said only a ``meaningful dialogue'' involving Pakistan could permanently resolve the Kashmir issue.

``We welcome the release of Geelani but at the same time we should not read too much into it as the Government seems to be doling out carrot and stick treatment to the Kashmiri leadership,'' he said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government ordered Mr. Geelani's release on Saturday, considering his health condition, after nine months of detention under the Public Safety Act. He will undergo kidney surgery tomorrow at Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Bhat said the closing down of the Hurriyat office, following the arrest of its leaders for allegedly receiving money from the Pakistan High Commission, was an attempt ``to clip the wings of the 25-party conglomerate.''

Asked to react to the expulsion of diplomats by India and Pakistan, Mr. Bhat said ``I do not think that it would have evoked a positive response from the leaders of the world community.''

However, the amalgam would wait and watch the developments before making a statement on the issue.

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