A day after the Centre’s reassurance that talks with separatist groups in J&K would be ‘‘most free and open,’’ and without any strings attached, the peace process has hit a roadblock. The Hurriyat’s move to reunify hawks and doves has threatened to come unstuck. ‘‘We have failed. We regret we could not bring the two Hurriyats together. Both Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq responded negatively at one point or another,’’ said Mian Qayoom, the covenor of the Ittehadi Force, an alliance of neutral separatists that includes JKLF supremo Yasin Malik, People’s League chief Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Shabir Shah, the Kashmir Bar Association and other groups. These had gathered to bridge the void between the rebel faction led by Geelani and the moderates led by Maulvi Abbas Ansari. ‘‘We are sorry. We now leave the matter before the people. We have disbanded the Ittehadi Force,’’ Qayoom said. This assumes great significance as the Hurriyat (Ansari) leadership postponed talks with New Delhi seeking to unite the separatist flock before resuming the dialogue. The group has already held two rounds of talks since January. Ansari had stepped down from the chairmanship of the group, asking his colleague Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to launch reunification efforts. And meanwhile, Mirwaiz has maintained that his group would not talk to the Centre until all the constituents of the erstwhile Hurriyat were not brought together. The Ansari group’s subtle walkout from the dialogue process had two major reasons: the leadership had established a close proximity with the NDA government and after the change of guard at the Centre, it wasn’t smooth sailing with the Congress-led UPA. Then the group also encountered a serious credibility crisis inside Kashmir with critics alleging that the talks did little to improve the ‘‘ground situation.’’ In fact, the Ansari group’s public support is at its lowest and the reunification condition is seen as a safe alibi to delay the talks. ‘‘Everybody knew that Geelani would never agree to break bread with Ansari especially after their engagement in talks,’’ a senior separatist leader said, a fact acknowledged by Geelani today who said doors are still open for the Ittehadi Force but not the Hurriyat(A) as it had ‘‘damaged the Kashmir cause.’’ ‘‘The leaders of the Ansari group wanted to postpone the third round. They had no concrete plan and then nothing changed on ground. Then the militants too were against their move. If unity was an issue close to their hearts, they should have made efforts before initiating the dialogue. Now they are in fix,’’ he said. When asked what next, both Mirwaiz and Ansari said: ‘‘We will react at an appropriate time.’’ The Ittihadi Force, however, has attributed the deadlock to the leaders of both warring factions. ‘‘Geelani wanted the Ittehadi Force to join his faction while Mirwaiz did not respond positively initially even as in the latter stages, he has shown some response,’’ said Qayoom.
