The powerful Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, body of Deobandi
clerics, at its Kashmir conference at Deoband on Sunday apart from stating that
‘Kashmir was an integral part’ suggested that ‘the issue be resolved within the
parameters of the Indian constitution’.
The stand 'abhorrent' to the Kashmir separatists was
pooh- poohed by both the hard-line as well the moderate leaders of the
conglomerate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and the pro-independence
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
The hard-line separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani
who is in the vanguard of the over four-month-long pro-independence unrest in
Kashmir which has claimed 110 lives and left hundreds wounded, trashed the
suggestion saying ‘the conference had ignored the root cause of the problem
which had raised questions over the bonafides of the conference itself’.
“The conference should have taken into consideration the
pledges made by Indian leadership to allow the people of Kashmir decide their
future- a fact even been acknowledged by the international community,” he
added.
“We don’t
agree with the suggestion that Kashmir issue be resolved within the frame work
of the Indian constitution, ” the moderate APHC chairman, Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar
Farooq said.
“There are three parties to the dispute, India, Pakistan
and Kashmiris. All the three parties have to be involved to find a solution to
the problem.
“The issue which has been a subject of several UN
resolutions cannot be resolved within the Indian constitution,” Mirwaiz told
Arab News.
“I appeal to the Indian Muslims not to get involved about
the political part of the Kashmir problem as we fully understand their
limitations,” pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) front
chairman Yasin Malik said.
The separatist leadership, however, thanked the clerics
for having raised their voice against the human rights violations and for
demanding revocation of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Another Muslim organization, Anjum Minhaj-e-Rasool has
also pleaded for ‘the resolution of the problem under the Indian constitution’
and asked the government to ‘take immediately conciliatory measures to mollify
the anger of Kashmiri people rather than using repressive force’.
The chairman of the Anjuman, Athar Hussain Dehlvi also
demanded the revocation of the AFSPA.
