Pushed, Hurriyat ups the ante

Turning the heat on the Centre, the Hurriyat chairman today pointed a finger at Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and questioned New Delhi1...

Turning the heat on the Centre, the Hurriyat chairman today pointed a finger at Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and questioned New Delhi8217;s 8216;8216;sincerity8217;8217; in creating a conducive atmosphere for talks.

Hurriyat chief Maulvi Abbas Ansari said the Hurriyat would meet sometime next week to decide the future of talks because 8216;8216;it8217;s getting increasingly difficult to convince people about the need for a dialogue.8217;8217;

Agitated over police action against those trying to take out a Muharram procession in Srinagar today, Ansari said the situation on the ground was not a happy one.

Advani, who was at Tumkur near Bangalore, said there was 8216;8216;no setback8217;8217; when reporters asked him about the Hurriyat threat to pull out of a dialogue. 8216;8216;We are concerned with both security as well as human rights. It8217;s something that we cannot ignore. No one can forget that there was a murderous assault against the chief minister two days ago. We cannot disregard our responsibilities,8217;8217; he said.

Home Ministry officials in New Delhi, while maintaining that no excesses by security forces would be permitted, made it clear that the Centre could not remain a silent spectator to any law and order problem.

Officials pointed out that the procession in Srinagar today was in defiance of prohibitory orders. 8216;8216;The peace process is at an extremely crucial juncture. Militants and hardliners are trying their best to sabotage it. We cannot afford to take chances,8217;8217; a senior official said, saying Delhi understood Ansari8217;s 8216;8216;compulsions.8217;8217;

In Srinagar, Ansari hit out at the police action saying it was 8216;8216;a brazen interference in religious affairs8217;8217; and that 8216;8216;attempts are being made to sabotage8217;8217; the peace process.

nbsp;	Vohra not welcome: Hurriyat

		nbsp;	SRINAGAR: Maulvi Abbas Ansari said he would not meet N N Vohra, the Centre8217;s Kashmir interlocutor, who is scheduled to visit the Valley in the next few days. He made it plain that a dialogue 8216;8216;if and when it happens8217;8217; would be with 8216;8216;Advani and nobody else.8217;8217; 8220;What have we to do with Vohra? We are going to hold talks with Advani and nobody else. I would suggest to Vohra that he meet Mufti Saeed because he is responsible for disrupting peace in the Valley,8217;8217; he said. 8212; ENS Story continues below this ad	nbsp;

8216;8216;Even after Advani called Army commanders to Delhi and told them to be sensitive towards people, nothing has changed on the ground for the common Kashmiri. If he was sincere, the situation would have been different by now8217;8217; Ansari said, blaming Advani for not reining in Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Saeed and Jammu and Kashmir police chief Gopal Sharma.

8216;8216;Only yesterday, I watched Vajpayeeji talk about Maulana Azad and Quran on television. But look at the situation here. Religious sentiments of thousands are being put down. The procession today was no political rally,8217;8217; he said.

Earlier, Kashmir IGP K Rajendra told The Indian Express that police had information the procession would be 8216;8216;hijacked8217;8217; by separatist elements and, hence, the action.

8216;8216;We have taken 40 people into custody. We had information that separatist elements would take over the procession. We had advised Ansari to persuade his people not to take out the procession,8217;8217; he said.

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Ansari, however, had a different version. He said scores had been injured in police action and some 300 people had been detained. 8216;8216;I8217;m interested in peace because we are caught between three guns: of security forces, militants and unknown gunmen. We just want an end to the atrocities on Kashmiris.8217;8217;