Hurriyat makes its travel plan

On the invitation of Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Hurriyat Conference will soon visit Pakistan.

On the invitation of Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Hurriyat Conference will soon visit Pakistan. The separatist group will leave for Islamabad around mid-June to hold talks with the country8217;s new democratic dispensation. Though there has been no such invitation for the Hurriyat8217;s hardline faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, there are signals that Islamabad wants to receive the leaders of the splintered separatists together.

Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has already taken the initiative to persuade Geelani back into the Hurriyat fold. He8217;s also coaxing JKLF supremo Yaseen Malik and the People8217;s Conference chairman Sajad Lone to return to the fold. In his speech on the death anniversary of his father Maulvi Farooq, Mirwaiz said he would personally visit these leaders and persuade them to join the Hurriyat again. 8220;It is my fervent wish that we all go together to Pakistan and talk to the new leadership there,8221; said Mirwaiz.

However, while there has been no positive response to Mirwaiz8217;s appeal so far, the proposed visit to Pakistan has more to it than the unity issue. In an atmosphere where separatists in Kashmir find themselves pushed to the margins of Kashmir politics and Pakistan has no qualms in looking beyond them towards the mainstream Kashmiri leadership, the Hurriyat is fighting its own personal battle for relevance.

The options before it are limited. In a situation where Islamabad seems less fixated on Kashmir in its engagement with New Delhi, Hurriyat cannot but play along. At the same time, parroting the Zardari-speak on Kashmir with its accent on trade rather than resolution of Kashmir, would risk alienating the separatist constituency in Kashmir. This would be fatal for the Hurriyat, which already feels hemmed in by the growing popularity of the mainstream parties in Kashmir.

The visit to Pakistan has another dimension. The challenge before the Hurriyat will be to negotiate the antagonistic relationship between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and the new democratic government. The front, which has been close to Musharraf and has supported his four-point proposals on the Kashmir resolution, will have to balance its relations with Pakistan8217;s centres of power.

Even though Mirwaiz says there is no fundamental conflict between the policies of Musharraf and the new coalition government, the issue remains of deep concern for the moderate separatist leadership. The new Pakistani dispensation, it appears, has so far refused to play favourites among the various shades of Kashmiri separatists. Geelani who had fallen foul of the Musharraf regime by slamming its unorthodox Kashmir policy, is well-regarded among some sections of the new dispensation.

While on Haj in 2006, Geelani had also met Nawaz Sharief in Saudi Arabia. Sharief, according to Geelani, had spoken well of his role in the Kashmir talk process. With all these factors in play, Hurriyat moderates have a tough task ahead, juggling their assumed role of being representatives of 8220;aspirations8221; of Kashmiris and their need to adjust to the altered equations in Pakistan and the confusing signals coming out of Pakistan.