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Basharat Peer in New Delhi
The consultations that the slain Kashmiri separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone had with senior United States state department officials on participating in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election led to his assassination, sources close to the late separatist leader told rediff.com.
Before his May 21 murder at a public rally in Srinagar, Lone participated in a meeting of Kashmiri separatists in Dubai.
The meeting saw separatists based in Pakistan, Britain and the US discuss the Kashmir imbroglio.
After the Dubai meet, where he took a stand against armed militancy in Kashmir, sources said that Lone and a US-based Kashmiri separatist met senior officials of the US state department dealing with South Asia.
"The US officials pressed for the participation of the separatists in the forthcoming assembly election in Kashmir. They told Lone that the election would be an initiating step for a dialogue," the sources said.
Lone, they said, stressed on inclusion of Kashmiris in any such dialogue.
"He also had taken a stand that the separatists should talk to India and Pakistan at the same time or separately," one source added.
The US officials pressed for the isolation of the hardliners within the separatist camp, irrespective of their nationality, and emphasised that Kashmiri separatist voices should be free from any 'foreign dictation', the sources added.
Lone, a moderate, who had earlier spoken against the involvement of foreign militants in Kashmir, had 'warmed up' to the American suggestions and driven home the point that 'steps' towards the solution of the Kashmir issue should be evolved.
"He spoke about the common menace of violence that has torn the world apart and discussed with the officials the need to stop violence in Kashmir and addressing its root cause," one source said.
Following Lone's assassination his son, Sajad Lone pointed fingers at both the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence and the J&K state government, terming it as an 'ugly convergence of interests'.
He had even hinted at certain Hurriyat leaders being involved in his father's murder.
While the sources admit that Lone's death was a major setback to the Centre's efforts to persuade the moderate separatists to participate in the election, 'his sons are trying to rejuvenate the People's Conference'.
"The People's Conference is going for a membership drive and is planning to hold rallies all over the state," the sources said, adding that Sajad Lone is trying to establish it as a mass-based party, while maintaining a distance from the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference.
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