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Butt to decide team to Pakistan

The separatist All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) executive Tuesday authorised the chairman of the conglomerate to select a team for Pakistan.

After a six-hour meeting at the APHC headquarters at Rajbagh, the Hurriyat, in a statement readout to waiting newsmen, said, "Since the Government of India has not yet issued travel documents in favour of all the seven members, the executive authorised chairman Prof Abdul Ghani Butt to select the team, which will travel to Pakistan on January 15."

On Monday, APHC leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. had hinted that the delegation would be decided by the APHC through consensus.

"The executive unanimously authorised Prof Butt to select the team," the statement in Urdu said.

The APHC executive also discussed the holding of panchayati elections in the state, the statement added.

The Hurriyat asked the people to boycott the polls, being held phase-wise later this month.

"Panchayati elections are no solution to the Kashmir problem. On one hand, efforts are on to create conditions for the settlement of the Kashmir issue to restore peace and normalcy, while the government is trying to stage the drama of panchayati polls. Time will tell if the Government of India is also in favour of holding local elections in the state."

People's Conference chairman Abdul Ghani Lone had said that he would not go to Pakistan with the Hurriyat delegation. "I will not visit Pakistan with the Hurriyat delegation," Lone told his party's working committee meeting in Srinagar. He said that the step was "voluntary". After his return, Lone has been under pressure from various separatist groups that attacked his party supporters last month during a seminar. Lone alleged that various groups had mounted a "campaign against me".

Sources said that the APHC would wait till travel documents were issued to firebrand Jamaat Islami leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and the People's League chief Sheikh Abdul Aziz and then Prof Butt will finalise the team.

On Monday, frontline Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salah-ud-Din had said that "if some leaders of the APHC are allowed to visit Pakistan and some are barred, it will create doubts about the Hurriyat''.

He added, "Rather, it can create an impression that the alliance is divided into moderates and extremists."

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