Promising to take the militants into confidence and urging them not to be swayed by emotion or resort to ‘‘sentimental exploitation,’’ the Hurriyat Conference today named a high-powered five-member team to begin talks with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on January 22. And said it was confident that militant groups would come on board ‘‘as soon as they get to know the dynamics of change.’’Yesterday, the Jamiat-ul Mujahideen had threatened to kill Hurriyat leaders if they went ahead with the talks.Brushing that aside, the Hurriyat today announced its interlocutors: the team, led by chairman Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, includes Hurriyat executives Abdul Gani Bhat, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Bilal Gani Lone and Fazal Haq Qureshi.Qureshi is more prominently known for his role as a former interlocutor for the Hizbul Mujhadeen during the Ramzaan ceasefire of 2001.Calling militants as ‘‘our boys,’’ chief spokesman Bhat said they, too, would be associated with the dialogue process. ‘‘As soon as they get to know the dynamics of change they will be with us. For that we need to go to Pakistan and meet our boys and convince them to come on board,’’ Bhat said. Adding that the team would ask New Delhi to let it visit Pakistan for this purpose. On the death threats, Bhat said the leadership would not succumb to browbeating or intimidation ‘‘which amounts wholly to sentimental exploitation.’’‘‘Whatever be the consequences, we will go by the constitutional rights. Even if it means death, we are ready to face. And one of our dear colleagues, Abdul Gani Lone, has faced it,’’ he said.The courage, Bhat said, came from the fact that the decision to talk mirrored the people’s wishes. ‘‘For the first time,’’ he said, ‘‘nearly 4 lakh people endorsed our resolution to hold talks with the Centre on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramzaan.’’Bhat said that although the team’s composition was decided earlier, it was subject to the ratification of today’s joint session of the executive council, general council and working committee.As expected, the JKLF, People’s League and Jamaat-e-Islami, former Hurriyat executive constituents remained absent in today’s meet.Seeking to clarify that the talks with Advani were ‘‘Kashmir specific’’, Bhat said the dialogue was neither linked to the general elections nor was it Saarc-specific. ‘‘We obviously will be discussing Kashmir and not the weather with Mr Advani,’’ he said.Bhat said that the Hurriyat wanted to talk with both India and Pakistan to reach an agreement. ‘‘We seek to initiate a purposeful process in which we want to take all, including Pakistan and the militants, on board. We want to talk to Pakistan also so that the process becomes meaningful,’’ he said. Without naming Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led hardline faction of Hurriyat, Bhat said accusations from any quarter are unacceptable.
