JAMMU, OCT 3: The Pakistan-based Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Amanullah Khan's call for crossing over the Line of Control (LoC) near Poonch on October 4 has at last found some supporters on this side of the border.Interestingly, while the separatist organisations like the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) are silent on the issue, for the first time some of the political parties have lent their support to the marchers. The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party chief, Bhim Singh, while supporting the march, has announced that his supporters would attempt to cross over the LoC from this side on October 26, the day of accession of the State with India.He has said that the marchers, led by Bhim Singh himself, would be received by Shaukat Maqbool Butt, son of Maqbool Butt, the founder member for separatist movement, Pak-occupied Kashmir (POK). Maqbool Butt was hanged for murdering an Indian diplomat Mhatre in Birmingham in the 70s. Singh has criticised the demand for convertingLoC into an International Border. He said nobody has any right to bifurcate the Kashmiris like that. Supporting the march, he said it shall be a healthy step in restoring peace in the region.The newly formed Awami National Conference (ANC), led by former chief minister and son-in-law of Sheikh Abdullah, G M Shah, has also extended support to the marchers from across the border.Shah has said that, over the years, the Line of Control had become a ``line of death and destruction'', separating many families and preventing others from meeting each other.``Crossing this line peacefully is no violation. As this will spread message of peace and open gates for independent Kashmir. So we should welcome them as this is going to benefit people in the longer run,'' Shah remarked.The International Democratic Party also holds similar views. They feel that the the marchers should not be stopped. The party leader from Samba region Chowdhary Hoshiar Singh said, when India has declared that PoK is part of Kashmir,then this is against the fundamental rights of the people living there to prevent them from meeting the people here.``A desirable solution and viable J&K solution lies in granting full autonomy to the each ethnic identity,'' Singh added.According to political analysts, the silence of APHC over the issue is also because of the personal difference between the present interim chairman of APHC, Yasin Malik with Amanullah Khan.This time Khan's appeals through letters have not only reached the offices of the separatist organisations, hundreds of common people in the Jammu region have also received the ``request letters''. The letters are asking the people here to join them in their struggle and mobilise support for them. With these letters dated August 1 are also attached the speeches of Amanullah Khan in Islamabad in which he has expressed his anger and anguish against the international community for making LoC as a permanent border between India and Pakistan.
