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Hurriyat to set up 'poll commission'

In a curious stand, the Hurriyat Conference on Monday said it would set up its own election commission to oversee polls to determine who would represent the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the event of tripartite talks on the Kashmir issue.

"The Hurriyat has decided to set up its own autonomous, impartial and honest election commission so that free, fair and credible election is held and ensure participation of the people in the process to elect representatives who will represent them in tripartite talks," the 23-party amalgam said in a statement in Srinagar.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik told reporters that the members of the election commission would be named in two to three days.

The Hurriyat statement, issued after a six-hour meeting of its top policy-making body, the executive committee, said elections would be held in the Kashmir valley followed by Jammu and Ladakh regions, and the third and final phase would cover Azad Kashmir (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir).

Asked about the locus standi of such a commission, Malik said there was scope for everybody to participate in the proposed election, including Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

When a reporter asked Malik as to how the Hurriyat expected the Centre to recognise the election commission, he said: "The whole international community will recognise it, as it will be a free and fair election commission."

PTI

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