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Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar
The political turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir deepened on Friday when the Jamaat-e-Islami disowned its leader, Syed Ali Geelani's, statement criticising two senior Hurriyat Conference leaders -- Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone.
Geelani, a known hardliner, had lashed out against the Mirwaiz for suggesting that militancy had lost its relevance in the Kashmir struggle.
The Mirwaiz and Lone recently attended a conclave of Kashmiri leaders in Sharjah where leaders from across the border were also present.
It soon became clear that their participation in the meeting was not approved by the Hurriyat Conference. And on his return from Sharjah, the Mirwaiz made that famous statement of the ground reality having changed after the September 11 terrorist strikes in the US.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, after a meeting of its shoora in Srinagar, released a statement saying that the views expressed by 'Geelani are absolutely his own and must not be construed to reflect the policies of the Jamaat-e-Islami which stands for a peaceful, trilateral negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute.'
While fire-brand Geelani represents the Jamaat on the Hurriyat Conference's executive committee, the party itself is led by Gulam Muhammad Bhat, a moderate.
With serious differences coming to the fore on the one hand between Geelani, Mirwaiz and Lone and on the other hand within one of Hurriyat's most powerful constituents -- the Jamaat-e-Islami -- politics in the Valley has most certainly entered a crucial phase.
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