NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Raising the banner of revolt, Hurriyat leaders charged the PoK government with having failed to provide Kashmiri immigrants the rights to franchise and employment.
They also alleged that the government had failed to play any role in projecting the Kashmir issue in international fora.
Leading to a worsening of the crisis, Haider Farooq, representative of the PoK 'prime minister', Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, failed to turn up at a meeting with the Hurriyat leadership for reconciliation talks on Saturday.
Frustrated at not being able to find a solution, the Hurriyat demanded that the PoK government, led by the Muslim Conference, be replaced by the Revolutionary Command Council.
"The RCC shall be replacing an elected government and it shall be an arrangement extraneous to the constitution of 1974," the Hurriyat said in a letter sent to various organisations.
The differences arose after former PoK 'president' Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, a moderate appointed chairman of the National Kashmir Committee, tacitly extended support to the proposed elections in Jammu & Kashmir.
They grew sharper when some Hurriyat leaders indicated their willingness to take part in the elections, which were denounced as a 'sham' by terrorist groups.
Qayyum was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper that he was not opposed to elections in Jammu & Kashmir provided they were free and fair and not construed as an alternative to the right to self-determination of the Kashmiris.
He also said the contestants should not be made to take an oath of allegiance to the Indian Constitution and that the elections should be monitored by international observers. "If these conditions are met, we will not oppose the elections," he said.
Qayyum also favoured a procedure to allow Kashmiris from both sides of the Line of Control to meet. There should also be an exchange of delegations, promotion of trade and creation of a demilitarised zone at the LoC where Kashmiris can sit together to discuss the solution, he said.
But the Hurriyat, in its letter, said there was a "potential possibility" that Qayyum along with the POK 'premier' might misguide Pakistan to take a 'wrong step'.
The Pakistan-based Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for three recent political murders in Jammu & Kashmir and has threatened to kill anyone who takes part in the assembly election.
PTI
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