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APHC executive to take final decision on talks today

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

The executive of the separatist conglomerate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference, is meeting in Srinagar on Thursday afternoon, against the backdrop of the stiff opposition by a majority of the 23 general council members to a dialogue with government negotiator K C Pant.

The meeting that was earlier scheduled to be held in the morning was postponed to the afternoon as the firebrand Jamaat e Islami leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, is returning to the city from New Delhi only in the afternoon.

"The meeting will begin as soon as he arrives," a spokesman for the APHC said.

The seven-member executive is sharply divided between those who favour a dialogue with the Centre and those who are strongly opposed to it and who have been demanding its immediate rejection.

The Hurriyat chairman has been holding hectic consultations with the executive members during the past two days to evolve a consensus. This morning too, he met some of the members.

"The back-tracking by New Delhi on various commitments made to us and to Kashmiris in the past has created a mistrust which is causing a serious impediment for the Huriyat to respond positively to Pant's offer," said a senior executive member.

Thursday's executive meeting follows the hectic discussions that the executive had with the working committee and general council of the APHC early in the week. Most of the general council members strongly opposed any talks with Pant.

On Monday, three activists of the Awami Action Committee were wounded when unidentified militants lobbed a hand grenade at the headquarters of the APHC during a meeting of the general council.

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