Date:25/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/25/stories/2008062561071700.htm

National

Islamists plan to escalate stir

Praveen Swami

SRINAGAR: Islamists opposed to a land-use grant enabling temporary accommodation for pilgrims visiting the Amarnath Shrine have drawn up plans to escalate their protests. Mian Abdul Qayoom, a top Srinagar-based lawyer who heads a Joint Action Committee backed by both the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led All Parties Hurriyat Conference and Islamist patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s Tehreek-i-Hurriyat, announced a three day agitation programme.

On Wednesday morning, Qayoom will lead protestors in a procession to the home of Feroze Ahmad Rah, a Srinagar resident killed in clashes with the police. The following day, the JAC has called for all Jammu and Kashmir residents to observe a one-hour total shutdown. Finally, the JAC will hold public education programmes on the land-grant issue after congregational prayers on Friday. The JAC’s programme has worried Jammu and Kashmir’s tourism industry, which fears that violence could lead to a large-scale exodus of visitors.

Meanwhile, the Majlis-e-Shoora, or General Council, of the Tehreek-i-Hurriyat, met on Tuesday to discuss proposals for uniting both major secessionist factions. Mr. Geelani and Mr. Farooq had met on June 19, along with secessionist leaders Shabbir Shah, Ashraf Sehrai, Ghulam Nabi Sumji and Masrat Alam to discuss the parameters for reunifying their fractured organisation.

Mr. Geelani had broken with the APHC in 2003 to protest its decision to engage in talks with the Government of India. Both leaders had agreed to unite their organisations on the basis of a shared commitment to seeking a resolution of the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir through tripartite negotiations between India, Pakistan and themselves focussed on granting self-determination to the State.

However, many Tehreek-i-Hurriyat leaders expressed doubts on the APHC’s seriousness of purpose. Dissension between the two secessionist coalitions also exists on their positions on Pakistan. While top APHC leaders are currently in Pakistan, and have announced their support for that country’s policies on Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Geelani has refused invitations to meet its Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on his forthcoming visit to New Delhi.