Sheikh Mushtaq
SRINAGAR, Feb 12 (1996) – A Kashmiri separatist group on Monday asked four former rebel leaders who have offered to start talks with India to present themselves immediately to the group or face “direct action”.
“We order these four former militant leaders who have been expelled from their respective militant organisations to present themselves before us, failing which they will face direct action,” Hizbollah said in a press release.
It did not spell out what the “direct action” would be.
The former leaders of the four guerrilla groups, who were jailed during the six-year-old separatist revolt in Indian-held Kashmir and later released, told a news conference on Thursday they were willing to hold direct talks with New Delhi to end the crisis in the troubled state without Pakistan’s participation.
Pakistan disputes Kashmir, the site of the rebellion by several Moslem militant groups against Indian rule.
The four former militants, who had been in the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Moslem Janbaz Force, Moslem Mujahideen and Al-Barq guerrilla groups, said they were ready to leave out Pakistan from the talks, at least initially.
The Indian government on Friday welcomed the offer.
Hizbollah said it was impossible to find a solution to the Kashmir problem without the participation of Pakistan, which has fought two wars against India over the Himalayan region since independence from British rule in 1947.
“Before every peace talk it is important for both sides to declare a ceasefire, but these four traitors have not taken anybody into confidence before offering talks with the Indian government without participation of Pakistan,” Hizbollah said.
The four former militant leaders said they were forming an alternative platform to the All-Party Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, a multi-party separatist grouping in Jammu and Kashmir, mainly Hindu India’s only Moslem majority state.
Hurriyat, which groups some 30 religious and political organisations, has criticised the four leaders and denounced them as Indian agents.
