Top leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, currently engaged in talks with Delhi to seek a solution to the Kashmir tangle, will be provided with Z category security.
This follows an attack on former APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq's uncle and senior Awami Action Committee leader, Moulvi Mushtaq, on Saturday afternoon in Srinagar. The same day the Mirwaiz's house too was attacked with hand grenades.
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has assured the APHC leadership that all steps necessary will be taken to protect their lives.
Abdul Gani Bhat, a former APHC chairman and one of three leaders who will get Z category security, said Hurriyat leaders are now only thinking of their own survival.
Talking to
rediff.com over the phone from Srinagar, he said: "For you people in the media it is important to find out as to when we would be travelling to Delhi to hold the next round of talks. But what is important to us is whether we would remain alive or not to hold these talks."
He said the danger to the lives of Hurriyat leaders had never been so grave. "We do not know whether the attack was organised by those who fight for the cause of Pakistan or by those who fight for India or someone else. But we know it for sure that there is a threat to the Hurriyat leadership," he added.
APHC leaders will meet in Srinagar in the next couple of days to discuss the attack on the Mirwaiz's residence. "We would let you know about the outcome of this meeting in due course," he said.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq did not answer calls from rediff.com.