SRINAGAR, 3 September — The All Party Hurriyat Conference yesterday staved off a showdown with the People’s Conference, one of its main constituents, by deciding not to expel it over the issue of participation in upcoming polls to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
The Hurriyat, angered by the decision of four People’s Conference leaders to contest the polls as independent candidates, accepted a clarification from the party that it had nothing to do with the move as it had already expelled the four leaders. The controversy had exposed sharp differences within the Hurriyat, a conglomerate of 23 groups campaigning either for Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan or its secession from India.
A statement issued by the Hurriyat yesterday, however, admitted the grouping had come close to severing ties with the People’s Conference, led by the son of the moderate leader Abdul Ghani Lone who was assassinated in May. The Hurriyat statement said it had decided during a meeting on Sunday to suspend the People’s Conference till it clarified its position regarding the decision of four of its leaders to contest polls in the northern Kupwara district.
But yesterday the Hurriyat accepted a detailed clarification submitted by senior People’s Conference leader Pir Hafizullah Makhdumi. The Hurriyat urged the People’s Conference to prove its “loyalty” to the separatist conglomerate by running an “anti-election campaign” against the leaders contesting the elections.
Its statement said the People’s Conference should ensure that these leaders did not “exploit the sacrifices of Abdul Ghani Lone”.
Gulam Mohiuddin Sofi, Abdul Haq, Abdul Rashid Mirchal and Gulam Qadir Mir are the four People’s Conference leaders who stirred a hornet’s nest in the Hurriyat by resigning from the party to contest elections that begin on Sept. 16.
Two elected un-opposed
Meanwhile, two independent candidates in Leh district were yesterday declared elected un-opposed on the last date of withdrawal of nominations for the assembly elections in Kashmir that begin on Sept. 16.
Sonam Wangchuk Narboo from Nobra constituency and Nawang Rigzin from Leh seat were fielded by the newly floated Union Territory Front (UTF). Narboo was the only candidate to file his nomination from Nobra. At Leh, Rigzin was the only one left in the fray after another aspirant Ahmadullah Azad withdrew his candidature.
In another development, suspected militants beheaded a ruling party activist and fired at an election rally yesterday, seriously wounding one person, police said.
Police said militants beheaded the 75-year-old National Conference activist in Baramulla district, north of Srinagar.
A police spokesman in Srinagar said militants also fired at a National Conference rally near Sheikhpora, also in Baramulla district, seriously injuring one party supporter.
