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A war of words appears to be brewing between the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front and the separatist All-Parties Hurriyat Conference.
JKLF vice-president Javed Mir has accused Hurriyat leaders of maintaining a 'criminal' silence on the accusations against his party chief, Yasin Malik, who was arrested in Srinagar last week under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Foreign Exchange Movement Act.
Mir remarked that the Hurriyat leaders were enjoying a luxurious lifestyle in Delhi hotels instead of leading protests in Kashmir against Malik's arrest.
Three top Hurriyat leaders -- chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Omar Farooq -- are camping in the national capital at the moment.
But the Hurriyat seems determined not to let these remarks blow up into a verbal duel. Terming Mir's remarks "unfortunate", Farooq, a former Hurriyat chairman, said, "I do not know why Javed is saying so. We are not resting here. Rather we are trying to get the issue resolved."
He said the Hurriyat leadership was approaching the quarters concerned as well as pressure groups that could help secure Malik's release. "Hurriyat believes Malik's arrest was an act of political vendetta," he said. "We are meeting various human rights activists and intellectuals in this connection and trying our best to secure his release."
Another Hurriyat leader brushed aside Mir's remarks as an "impulsive comment" resulting from the "hurt caused by Malik's arrest".
Asked whether it was a pointer to differences simmering between the Hurriyat and the JKLF, he said, "Our positions are well known. It is not such an important issue that one could infer differences between the two groups."
Meanwhile, the Hurriyat is waiting for the governments of India and Pakistan to soften their stands on the parallel election commission floated by it.
The conference had proposed to hold independent elections in both Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to choose the "true representatives of the people".
"We are working on that," the Hurriyat leader said. "There has not been any reply from the Government of India yet. Something can happen only after the governments of India and Pakistan soften their stands. We are meeting various diplomats in that connection."
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