Facing the heat on talks, Hurriyat joins poll boycott chorus

Sources say behind the Hurriyat’s decision was pressure from separatist parties outside the amalgam who have advocated poll boycott and are already holding anti-election rallies. Even moderates like Shabir Ahmad Shah and Sajjad Lone—he was accused of proxy participation in the last Assembly elections—have this time openly called for a boycott.

Given that the Hurriyat’s stand has been to boycott polls, sources said, even the slightest hint of a climbdown would open it to the charge that it was in league with New Delhi—a charge that’s almost like a curse in the Valley’s separatist politics. This, in turn, could have robbed them of credibility in the peace process.

When asked about speculation that the Hurriyat had given assurances to DPM L K Advani that it would not stall the polls, Bhat said: ‘‘Elections were never discussed.’’

The Awami Action Committee, headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, announced the boycott last month.

On the issue of peace talks, Bhat said he hoped the Hurriyat would take up ‘‘substantive issues’’ with Advani in June and with Pakistan. He renewed Hurriyat’s demand of visiting Pakistan and said: ‘‘We have got the impression that New Delhi would allow us.”