Hurriyat gets letter and spirit

The decision to invite the Hurriyat was taken at a meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office last week.

As of now no agenda had been fixed and the first meeting between the two sides will largely be a kind of ‘‘introductory meeting to break the ice,’’ an official said, adding that it was going to be very flexible. ‘‘The agenda will flow out from the talks,’’ he said.

In Srinagar, the first reaction was an unqualified yes. ‘‘We welcome the invitation and will talk openly, frankly, productively and purposefully,’’ said Ansari.

Soon after receiving the letter, Ansari called for a meeting on Thursday of all the three tiers of the conglomerate — the executive, general council and the working committee. ‘‘We will give you all the details of the composition of the team
and how to go about with the talks,’’ said Abdul Gani Bhat, former chairman and a key member of the Hurriyat executive.

‘‘The Hurriyat will possibly announce the team that will hold talks with Advani on Thursday itself,’’ he added.

Sources said the team would have three to five representatives. Besides Ansari who will lead it, consensus is being sought on Bhat, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Bilal Gani Lone (four executive members) and Fazal Haq Qureshi, who is in the general council and was pointman for the Hizbul Mujahideen when it held talks with New Delhi following the Ramzaan ceasefire in 2002.

Bhat said the Hurriyat would also talk to non-Hurriyat groups like the Yasin Malik-led JKLF, Shabir Ahmad Shah-led Democratic Freedom Party and representatives from Jamat Islami and People’s League.

‘‘Of course, we will be taking their views also. They still (last three) represent our executive,’’ said Bhat, adding ‘‘We won’t talk to Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led Hurriyat.’’

While hardliner Geelani is out of the Hurriyat, the JKLF, Jamat and the People’s League have remained ‘‘neutral.’’

Meanwhile, various separatist and mainstream parties have reacted differently to the invitation ranging from caution to optimism.

Predictably, Geelani said the proposed Advani-Ansari dialogue does not reflect the constitution of the Hurriyat. ‘‘Talks on Kashmir should have to be trilateral or according to the UN resolution. Any other initiative or roadmap is unacceptable to the people of Kashmir,’’ he claimed.

Welcoming the invitation, DFP supremo Shabir Ahmad Shah struck a cautionary note: ‘‘The proposed talks between New Delhi and Hurriyat should be seen in the light of the previous exercises started by New Delhi. When my party started talking to (K C) Pant, and later New Delhi seemed insincere, we had to withdraw. Our leadership shoud not allow New Delhi to do the same thing,’’ said Shah, who called for ‘‘a unity among separatist parties of all hues at this crucial juncture.’’

JKLF chairman Yasin Malik too reacted cautiously saying he would issue a statement on the invite tomorrow.

The ruling People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the invitation saying the Centre should also invite other parties, including the Hizbul Mujahideen, to make the dialogue process more comprehensive. ‘‘Things had started moving in the recent Saarc summit and now the Centre should try to broadbase the dialogue process,’’ she said.

This was echoed by National Conference president Omar Abdullah. ‘‘We welcome it as we have been pressing for talks,’’ he said. ‘‘But we want it to widened so that other factions who are left out are part of the dialogue too,’’ said Abdullah.

He called on the Centre to reciprocate the Hizbul statement that the militant faction was prepared to announce a ceasefire if a dialogue would be meaningful. ‘‘I believe this opportunity musn’t be missed as it would prepare the ground for a conducive atmosphere for talks succeed. We hope something concrete comes out of it.’’

From the government side, though the main talks were likely to be conducted by Advani himself, members of the Coordination Group will also be present. These include Home Secretary N. Gopalaswami, Director of Intelligence Bureau K P Singh, OSD in the PMO (J&K) A.S. Dulat and Centre’s interlocutor N.N. Vohra.