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'By making liberation conditional on accession Kashmiris are going for a hug with the bear'

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Amanullah Khan has conceded that the 'liberation movement' in Kashmir has 'faded' and 'Dr Farooq Abdullah heads a people's representative government.'

Khan was talking to the Kashmir Press International, a Pakistan-based news agency, and was later quoted in the Urdu daily Jang.

The liberation movement, Khan said in his interview, is not what it used to be 'three to four years ago'. The fact that Dr Abdullah's government is accepted as a representative government speaks of 'Pakistan's diplomatic failure'.

He said the militants, who are now fighting for the so-called 'liberation' from India, wanted the Kashmiris to get into the 'Pakistani cage.'

'By making liberation conditional on accession (to Pakistan) Kashmiris are going for a hug with the bear,' he said.

''We do not want friendship with Pakistan as the basis of an autonomous Kashmir: we want an autonomous Kashmir on the basis of hatred for Pakistan. Kashmiris are changing their attitude towards Pakistan because of (the activities of) the pro-Pakistan elements.''

Referring to Pakistan's accusation that any talk of an autonomous Kashmir is a 'conspiracy' against it, Khan said Kashmiris were constrained to conclude that if 'Pakistani did not trust them why should they make sacrifices for that country'.

UNI

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