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Hurriyat to blame for violence in Kashmir: JKLF founder

Sumir Kaul in New Delhi

Squarely blaming the Hurriyat Conference for the bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir, senior separatist leader and one of the founders of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Hashim Qureshi, on Wednesday said the 23-party amalgam should stop building castles in the air so that people of the state were relieved of their fanciful ideas.

"I don't know what they mean... by forming the election commission. What are they trying to convey to the people of the state? I think even the Hurriyat Conference is also unaware of what they want to communicate. They should stop making castles in the air," Qureshi, who carried out the first hijack in the country's aviation history in 1971, said.

Hurriyat Conference's statement on conducting polls to choose the representatives of the people had vindicated his stand that the amalgam did not represent the wishes and aspirations of the people of J&K, Qureshi said.

"If such an exercise could have been undertaken in early 90s then the bloodshed would not have taken place," Qureshi, who later formed his own Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party, said.

The former hijacker, who is presently on bail, blamed some of the Hurriyat leaders for the present turmoil and said: "While this militancy has seen a death in every second family of Kashmiris, it has seen these Hurriyat leaders flourishing like anything."

Qureshi said the Hurriyat Conference had failed to perform as a political platform and was only acting as a stooge of Islamabad.

"India allows Hurriyat leaders to meet anyone in the Pakistan high commission. But the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are not allowed to enter the Indian high commission," he said.

On Hurriyat's plan to conduct polls in three phases, Qureshi said: "I wonder what kind of leaders they are. How could they forget Gilgit and Blatistan, which were forcibly annexed by Pakistan and Aksai Chin under Chinese occupation?"

He said the Hurriyat leaders were not even aware of the geographical boundaries of the state.

Asserting that he stood for "positive politics" in the troubled state, Qureshi said there was no place for violence in resolving the Kashmir issue.

"There is no party in the state which stands for positive politics. I have chosen to return to India, not only to face trial (on hijack charges), but also to give the message that there is no place for violence," he said.

Castigating Pakistan for fomenting trouble in the state, Qureshi said: "The politics of the gun is a necessity with the Pakistan army. Likewise, Indian security forces and some Indian politicians find a necessity in continuing the policy of gun."

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