Rebel hawks now flaunt OIC feather

Waving a formal invite to their leader from the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to its two sessions in New York later this month, H...

Waving a formal invite to their leader from the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to its two sessions in New York later this month, Hurriyat rebels led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani today rubbed in the point that they were the ‘‘real’’ Hurriyat.

Geelani has received a formal invitation to the OIC sessions scheduled for September 26 and 30 on the sidelines of the 58th session of the UN General Assembly. The Hurriyat has an observer status in the Islamic grouping. But the invitation to the hawkish Geelani will cause some concern in New Delhi.

In the wake of the Hurriyat split, the Geelani faction has been backed by major militant groups in the Valley. And across the border, Pakistan’s electronic media has been projecting it as the ‘‘lone representative voice of Kashmiris.’’ Copies of the invitation were released to the press at Geelani’s Hyderpora residence in Srinagar today by aides who said this was recognition that they constituted the ‘‘real’’ Hurriyat. They said they had been asked to inform the OIC of their decision.

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‘‘The first session will be held on September 26 where the contact group on Jammu and Kashmir will meet. At the second session on September 30, the Foreign Ministers annual coordination meeting will take place. We have been invited to both the sessions,’’ an aide announced.

The OIC invite to Geelani’s faction is being seen as a shot in the arm for the group though there’s buzz that he may not be granted visa to travel to New York. But it helps him in the ongoing act of one-upmanship against the Abbas Ansari faction. Geelani will now try to spread the word at his Friday public meetings in the Valley.

The OIC invite is a setback for the Abbas Ansari faction which had planned to send Hurriyat leaders to Delhi to meet diplomats of the OIC and Western countries to apprise them on Kashmir.

When his comments were sought on the OIC invite to Geelani, Abbas Ansari shot back: ‘‘Does this mean we are nowhere? Let them invite him. Anyway, what has OIC done all these years other than lending Hurriyat an observer status at its sessions. They are just US lackeys who bow to pressure.’’