Hurriyat begins gathering its flock ahead of talks

Qureshi is counted among liberals and sources in the Awami Action Committee and is often invited to attend important middle-rung meetings and discussions within the Hurriyat.

Hurriyat leaders Javid Ahmed Mir, vice-chairman, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and Shahid-ul-Islam, youth president, AAC, descended on Shah’s residence on Monday and held close-door discussions for several hours.

The move, sources said, has been initiated by the liberals in the Hurriyat at the behest of the Awami Action Committee supremo, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is currently on a study tour to Central Asia to complete his doctorate. Yasin Malik, chairman of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, also favours Shah’s return to the Hurriyat, the sources added.

Shah has reportedly acknowledged that Hurriyat has a bigger role to play and has welcomed the talks offer, ready to render his services, if sought. However, it is not clear whether the two leaders discussed Shah’s return to the Hurriyat.

Shah, who floated the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party and has been overshadowed by the Hurriyat Conference ever since his expulsion from the coalition, is still a force to reckon with given his image as leader at national and international level.

Mir and Shahid, sources said, were also instrumental in bringing about a reconciliation during the recent elections in the Hurriyat, between Umar and Yasin after several differences had cropped up between the two leaders.

Another important meeting is reported to have taken place between Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Lone and two members of the Qoomi Mashawarati Council –Fazil Haq Qureshi and Musadiq Adil. The duo were accompanied by ACC general secretary G M Bhat.

The four leaders, sources said, discussed the unconstitutional talks offer by Centre in the wake of Hizbul Mujahideen’s offer of a cease-fire. Lone was instrumental in securing a berth for the Peoples’ League, a Hurriyat constituent, when he mobilised the League’s splinter groups to unite after Shabir Shah, who headed the faction, was expelled from the Hurriyat.

The move is also being seen an effort by Hurriyat liberals to rope in as many like-minded people as possible in the wake of the Hizb’s announcement that only a part of the Hurriyat will do the talking along with three others nominated by the outfit, viz., Mushtaq Gilani, Gulam Ali and Muhammad Ali Saqib.

Though it is not clear who will participate from the Hurriyat, it is generally believed that liberals — except Umar Farooq — may not form the part of the Hurriyat negotiating team.