SRINAGAR, Jan 29 (2001): Kashmir’s main Muslim separatist alliance expressed grief on Monday over a devastating earthquake that has killed up to 20,000 people in western India but said it could do nothing to help.
“The Hurriyat expresses grief and sorrow over the death and destruction due to the earthquake. We can understand the misery of the people of Gujarat,” the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference said in a statement.
“(But)…we cannot extend any help to the distressed people, we feel sorry about it,” it said.
The Hurriyat bands nearly two dozen political, social and religious groups in Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state.
“May God help the people of Gujarat in this terrible tragedy,” the alliance said.
India’s worst earthquake hit Gujarat state on Friday.
Nearly a dozen guerrilla groups are fighting New Delhi’s rule in Kashmir. Authorities say more than 30,000 people have been killed in 11 years of separatist rebellion.
