Appointment of Jammu & Kashmir interlocutors a 'dirty trick': Syed Ali Shah Geelani

Calling for boycott of Centre's interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir, hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani today said they had been appointed as part of a "dirty trick" to mislead US President Barack Obama.

"The real aim of (appointing) the interlocutors is to mislead the US president during his visit to India next month. Government of India wants to impress upon him that it is making a serious effort for resolution of Kashmir issue," Geelani told reporters at his residence in Srinagar.

Geelani, who was placed under house arrest immediately after his return from Delhi yesterday, reiterated his call for boycotting the interlocutors as people have already conveyed their message about their wish for resolution of Kashmir issue under the right to self-determination.

"The five-point formula we had suggested to government of India was endorsed by majority of people in Jammu and Kashmir on Eid day (September 11). New Delhi should have acted upon those suggestions which includes declaring Kashmir as a dispute and withdrawal of troops from the state," he said.

He urged students, lawyers, traders and separatists lodged in various jails not to meet the interlocutors as "it is a dirty trick" of the Centre.

The boycott call comes a day after moderate Hurriyat headed by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said they will not meet the panel headed by eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar.

Geelani asked people to be aware of the "nefarious designs of Indian agencies" as they might attempt to repeat Chattisinghpora incident "when 35 Sikhs were massacred during the visit of then US President Bill Clinton to impress upon him that the movement in Kashmir is terrorism."

On his heckling by Pannun Kashmir activists in Delhi on Thursday, Geelani said, "I have forgiven them from the bottom of my heart. They did what they felt was their duty towards Indian nation due to their ideological synergy."

Alleging that Pandits were driven away from Kashmir under a conspiracy by then governor of the state, the hardline leader said the Pandit community will find "good neighbours in us whenever they return to their homes, orchards and fields".

Reacting to the Centre's decision to file a case against him for his speech at a seminar in Delhi, where demand for secession of Kashmir was made by Kashmiri separatists, Geelani said, "I have 90 FIRs registered against me. This will be number 91."

Geelani said he did not say anything new in Delhi that he had not said in Kashmir before.

Supporting the signature campaign and call of moderate Hurriyat Conference for march to local UN office in Srinagar on October 27, he issued a fresh 13-day protest calendar which has only four days exempted from strikes and protests.

The "normal" working days are October 28 and 29 and November 2 and 4.

The moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, meanwhile, said the concept of bringing in the interlocutors was just an attempt to procrastinate the main issue.

"People want an engagement for the settlement of Kashmir on a political level and not an academic one. Why at all do we need interlocutors? It is just an attempt to procrastinate the main issue," chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said.

Interlocutors are needed when there is a vast difference in people's opinion, which is not the case here, he said.

"There are only two opinions. One, which says Kashmir is a dispute and the other which wants it to be an integral part of India. Instead a parliamentary group should have been formed," the Mirwaiz said.