Leave Kashmir to Us, Stick To Your Job: Mirwaiz To NC

APHC Media Monitoring Service: Asserting that his alliance was the custodian of Kashmiri blood, the chairman of the Hurriyat , Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, on Monday lashed out at NC president, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, saying that the Hurriyat did not need pro-India figures to mediate for holding talks on the Kashmir issue. The Mirwaiz said that there would be no violent reaction around Jamia Masjid, if the forces desisted from provoking youth by placing restrictions. Apparently in response to Dr. Abdullah’s insinuation that that the Hurriyat was not clear on its stand whether it was with India, Pakistan or China, the Mirwaiz hit back saying that the agenda of his alliance was clear and that it stood for the permanent resolution of the Kashmir issue. Dr. Abdullah had roused the ire of the pro-freedom camp here by his statement Sunday asking the Hurriyat to come forth with its agenda and a road map on Kashmir so that the NC could help it at the New Delhi. Bristling at the suggestion, the Mirwaiz said that the pro-India forces, who, he said, had no business to extend invitations to the Hurriyat, could not go about advising the pro-freedom camp. “Whenever the Hurriyat has to talk to India of Pakistan on Kashmir, it will do so on its own strength. It does not require pro-India figures to mediate for it,” he said, adding, “The goals of the pro-India figures are limited to power and office, while the Hurriyat aims for freedom” “The pro-India forces should first work on the tasks assigned to them by the people. The Hurriyat will talk about Kashmir by itself,” he added . Mirwaiz said:“The Hurriyat Conference is not being allowed to take its point of view to the people. We are being stopped from discharging our religious duties, and being subjected to restrictions” Referring to Friday prayers at the Jamia Masjid, the Mirwaiz said that stone-pelting took place because of the restrictions by the police and the paramilitary forces. “The forces deliberately provoke the youth, inflaming them by posing obstacles in religious duties, and this leads to a reaction,” he said,“Let the forces end the curbs, allow freedom of movement to the Hurriyat leaders and the freedom to discharge religious duties to the public, and desist from keeping the people under siege, and I think there will be no flare up from the youth” Referring to the elections now underway in the state, the Mirwaiz said that the process would have no bearing on the status of the Kashmir issue even if 100 per cent votes were cast.