'Let civil society conduct polls to find who represents JK'

Separatist JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik today dared the mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir to an election under the aegis of the civil society for finding out "who represents the people".
"If these people (mainstream leaders) think that pro-freedom leaders and parties have no representative character, let them all get together and choose a constituency in Kashmir and compete with us," Malik said in a statement.
He was responding to Pradesh Congress Committee president Saif-ud-din Soz, who had said that separatists should participate in the forthcoming elections to prove their representative character.
Malik said the election should be conducted by the civil society in Kashmir with a sole purpose of proving who really represents Kashmiri people.

"If at all Soz believes in his own statement, he should not shy away from this challenge," Malik said.
The JKLF chairman said if the separatist camp is defeated in this election, "I will quit politics".
Malik said the elections held in the state were only for day-to-day governance and had no bearing on the resolution of Kashmir issue.