Mirwaiz Farooq appointed Hurriyat Conference caretaker

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: The Hurriyat Conference appointed Mirwaiz Umar Farooq as its caretaker on Saturday, saying efforts to unify separatist groups would continue.

The decision was made at the Hurriyat’s executive council meeting, attended by five general council members, invited especially for consultations.

The executive council met for the first time to discuss the unification of the two Hurriyat Conference moderate factions after Maulvi Abbas Ansari resigned on July 7.

Mr Ansari asked Mr Farooq to unify the groups and try to convince the outfits which had been reluctant to rejoin the Hurriyat Conference to join it.

Chaired by Mr Farooq, the meeting was attended by former chairmen Professor Abdul Gani Bhat and Mr Ansari. The People’s Conference leader Bilal Lone was represented by Khalil Ahmad Khalil.

Other members at the meeting were People’s Political Front leader Fazal Haq Qureshi, Tableegul Islam leader Bashir Kant, Allama Iqbal Students Union leader Abdul Manan, Amuatai-e-Islami leader Abdul Hamid Bhawani and Democratic Freedom Party leader Syed Saleem Gilani.

“The meeting decided that Mr Farooq would continue as caretaker chief of the alliance,” a Hurriyat spokesman said.

Mr Ansari said the next meeting would be held in 10 to 15 days to review the unification. “We shall call a joint session of the general council, the executive council and the working committee to discuss future action,” he added.

He noted that the third round of talks with New Delhi was not discussed because they were busy with the unification.

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