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Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar
All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Professor Abdul Gani Bhat has denied knowledge of two APHC leaders meeting Sardar Abdul Qayoom Khan, the chairman of Pakistan's Kashmir council, in Sharjah.
"I have no knowledge about Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone's interaction with Khan," Bhat said. He, however, dispelled fears that the recent statements of the two leaders could lead to the disintegration of the APHC.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had recently said that the ground realities in Kashmir had changed after the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Disagreeing with the Mirwaiz, senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Ali Geelani had launched a broadside against what he termed as a "shameless" change of stand by some Kashmiri leaders.
There has always been a tug of war between moderates and hardliners within the APHC, but of late the divergent voices in the separatist conglomerate have been heard more loudly.
If the Huriyat falls victim to the divergent ideologies of its constituent groups, it would be a godsend for the ruling National Conference, which is preparing the ground for the forthcoming assembly elections. Plans are afoot to hand over the party reins to Omar Abdullah, Minister of State for External Affairs and son of Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, before the elections.
NC leaders are so enthused with the developments in Hurriyat Conference that they have begun pressing for early elections in the state.
Senior government officials, however, believe that that may not be possible because of the annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath Cave, as most of the administrative and security attention remains focused on the yatra.
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