Hurriyat Losing Hold Over Militants

The All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), which has been the sheepdog of pro-Pak interests in the valley, is fast losing its grip over secessionist militant groups.

Following its decision to extend membership to the Jammu and Ladakh regions by including a number of non-Muslims in Hurriet executive recently, the APHC has annoyed most of the pro-Pak militant groups operating in the valley. The first group to react openly is the ultra-fundamentalist Jamiet-ul-Mujahideen, which has issued a highly inflammatory statement against the APHC leadership. The Jamiet statement says the APHC is out to derail the Islamic movement in the valley and that the leaders of the APHC are playing the type of politics the pro-Indian National Conference has been playing for the last fifty years.

 

The pro-Pak militants here are critical of what they call the intended secular politics of the APHC, which, according to the secessionists, owes everything to the present armed movement. It is widely believed here that the latest climbdown of the APHC owes itself, atleast partly, to the recent visit of American ambassador Mr Frank Wisner to the valley. Wisner is known to have advised the APHC to give up the attitude of confrontation and create an atmosphere conducive for talks with New Delhi.

Giving the APHC a secular colour has gone down well only with the JKLF, whose Muzafarabad based President Amanullah Khan has welcomed the APHC decision as a pleasant surprise. The growing alienation between the secessionist militants and the APHC could be seen yesterday when the secessionist militant conglomerate, the Shoura-e-Jehad, banned the publication of five vernacular daily newspapers in the valley. This ban order forced closure once again on all the daily newspapers published from the valley with others showing solidarity with the banned newspaper editors.

In the past the local newspaper editors had been approaching the APHC leaders for vacation of ban orders on them. Butyesterday, realising that the APHC itself is under cloud with the Shoura-e-Jehad the editors were at a loss. On his part, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah appears to be confident that once the APHC reconciles to mainstream politics, he would still emerge the winner. The very constitution of the APHC, formed in 1993, has been as a political platform to the separatist armed struggle. While the latest decision to broadbase the APHC augurs well, taking care of the criticism that the party is communal and fundamentalist, its long term impact on the APHC needs to be closely watched , especially since now onwards, the forum has to do a fine balancing act with the aspirations of all the three regions of the state.

Also debatable is the basic fact as to how the people in the Jammu and Ladakh regions are going to accept the APHC as a political fore since so far it has been banking on separatist sentiments and armed struggle against India.