Hurriyat won146;t call for poll boycott

On their return from New Delhi, the Hurriyat Conference said on Wednesday that the conglomerate would neither contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections nor give a boycott call against it.

8216;8216;The dialogue process we have entered into is entirely different from the issue of the elections. They are in no way linked to the polls,8217;8217; said a Hurriyat leader, soon after the meetings of executives.

The Hurriyat has called a meeting of its executive and general council next Wednesday where it would brief members about the progress of talks in New Delhi. Asked if the Hurriyat would appeal people to boycott the polls, the leader said Kashmiris have been staying out of the electoral process on their own and there is no need to call for a boycott.