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Big guns gather for Lone son's wedding

Both leaders appear to have forgotten the tension they underwent during the last 12 years of militancy, and were in a cheerful mood as the nikaah ceremony, the most significant part of the ceremony, was performed at Khan's residence.

The families of Sajjad, the second son of Lone, and Asma Khan, the only daughter of Khan, opted for asaltan tradition of a Muslim wedding with the bridegroom going to the house of the bride to say 'yes' to each other in the presence of close family members.

They preferred that to the more familiar tradition of vakaltan in which the nikah is performed though proxies.

The marriage ceremony will be formally complete on Sunday with Lone going to the residence of Khan again, along with his marriage party and escorting the newly-weds to his house, a rented accommodation in the modern capital city of Pakistan.

Khan described it as a ''historic occasion''. Lone, too, maintained that it was a social function. Both leaders are discreetly avoiding political talk lest another meaning is read into what they view as a private affair. Nevertheless, the union of two political leaders -- separated by the Line of Control but fighting for the same cause -- through the marriage of their children, has set tongues wagging about the political scenario which is likely to emerge.

It is a small wonder then that the Kashmiri leaders of almost all hues have turned up for the occasion. Lone got a warm reception by local Kashmiri people in Lahore and Islamabad on his arrival on November 16. This is his first visit to Pakistan in 17 years. Both 33-year-old Sajjad and 26-year-old Asma are voracious readers and while the former dabbles in politics, the latter is a writer.

Those shuttling between the residences of Khan and Lone include leaders of Azad-Kashmir owing allegiance to the People's Party and Muslim Conference, Altaf Qadiri (JKLF-Yaseen Malik), Mir Tashid Masood of Ittihid-ul-Muslimeen (the party of Kashmiri Shia leader Moulana Abbas Ansari), Fayaz Naqashbandi, Ghulam Mohammad Safi of Jamaat-e-Islami (said to be close to Syed Ali Shah Geelani). Mohammad Asraf Saraf (close to Hurriyat Conference chairman Prof Abdul Ghani), Mohamood Sagar, Gen Hayat Khan of Azad-Kashmir, apart from Master Afzal (JKLF-Amanullah), Yusuf Naseem and Mohammad Siddiq Ganai of the Hurriyat Conference.

Leaders of Azad-Kashmir are enthusiastically participating in the arrangements for the marriage party. According to Sardar Sawar Khan, a member of Azad-Kashmir, ''The marriage has given the leaders from the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir an opportunity to meet.''

Those accompanying Lone include K D Sethi, a leftist leader and the brother of Indian Supreme Court judge Justice R P Sethi, Peer Hafeezullah Makhdoomi, journalists Ved Bhasin, Pushp Saraf and Tahir Mohiuddin, Bhushan Lal Pandita, an advocate, Tasdaq Habbi, son of Lone's close associate, Ghulam Mohammed Habbi and Sheikh Ali Mohammed (Jamaat-e-Islami of Jammu and Kashmir).

That leaders of the Yaseen Malik faction of JKLF and those belonging to Shabir Shah, who have broken away not only from Lone but the Hurriyat Conference itself, are working for the smooth organisation of the social event shows the interest it has aroused in political circles.

Incidentally, Pakistani ministers and officials have so far kept away from Lone, inviting sharp reaction from the Daily Nawa-I-Qaqt, a local Urdu daily, which has in a pungent comment flayed the indifference and absence of protocol towards a top leader of the ''Kashmir freedom movement''. The newspaper has said the government should observe necessary protocol towards Lone as it would send a good signal. It has asked the chief executive officer and the Pakistani Punjab governor to look into the matter. The newspaper has noted in a report, that although Punjab Governor Ghulam Mohammad Safdar was present at Lahore airport, around the same time when Lone had landed from New Delhi, there was no contact.

The English daily Dawn has taken note of the event in an editorial, although in a different context. It said: ''The Indian Government's latest response to the crisis in Kashmir has been a mixed one. On the one hand, it has shown some flexibility in allowing two Kashmiri leaders from the Valley to attend the OIC summit in Doha and a third one to visit Pakistan to attend his son's wedding. On the other hand, it has reacted with characteristic rigidity to the declaration issued by the Conference.''

''New Delhi's gesture of goodwill towards Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone suggests that India would like to reach an understanding with the Hurriyat leadership within the framework of the Indian Constitution. Hence the relatively mellowed stance vis-a-vis these leaders.''

UNI

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