Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Hurriyat moderates have started serious deliberations to chalk out an agenda for the dialogue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following yesterday’s invitation by the Centre.
A hunt has also been launched for ‘‘pro-separatist Kashmiri intelligentsia’’ outside the conglomerate to help carry forward the dialogue and add weight to Hurriyat’s argument in subsequent rounds of talks.
‘‘The first team which will sit on table with the Prime Minister will include Hurriyat’s top leadership. There is every likelihood that Fazal Haq Qureshi and Javaid Mir will join the three top executive members to form Mirwaiz’s team,’’ a senior Hurriyat leader told The Indian Express. ‘‘But the subsequent rounds that will be held with the senior government officials will not just have our politicians on table. It will include noted Kashmiri intellegentsia and experts who are not necessarily part of the Hurriyat conglomerate’’.
Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, however, did not spell out the composition of the team, saying it will be announced soon. The team is scheduled to leave for New Delhi on Sunday.
Today’s meeting came across as a predictable exercise. What, however, has changed is that the stakes have increased for the doves — with the hardline faction of Syed Ali Shah Geelani making their disapproval loud and clear.
The other separatist leadership — JKLF chief Yaseen Malik, president of Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party Shabir Ahmad Shah, and the president of People’s Conference have maintained a safe distance from the dialogue.
