Top Kashmiri separatist leaders on Saturday evening joined the iftar party hosted by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the hard-line separatist leader at his uptown residence.

Geelani had invited almost all the separatist leaders to the iftar party at his Hyderpora residence.

Those who attended it included the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq and pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik.

This is for the first time that the top separatist leadership was seen together in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

The separatists have also called for a joint rally in Srinagar on July 13 to commemorate martyrs day. The day is being observed in memory of 21 Kashmiris who were killed in firing by Dogra soldiers in 1931 outside the central jail while protesting against the autocratic rule.

The separatist conglomerate All Parties Hurriyat Conference had split into moderate and hard-line groups in 2003.

The coming together of the separatist leaders is seen as a prelude to the broad based unity efforts.

The separatist leaders passed a resolution at the iftar party itself that said, “Since the inception of the People Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government, the graph of human rights violations has shown an alarming increasing trend.” The resolution also called for “unity at all the levels.”

The leaders had last month jointly called for a strike against the killing of civilians in Sopore town in Baramulla district.

Photograph: Umar Ganie/Rediff.com