Hurriyat faces revolt over ‘quiet’ talks

The Moderate Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is facing a revolt within its ranks over the “quiet diplomacy and quiet talks” formula propounded by the Union home minister P Chidambaram to rope-in separatists for resolving the Kashmir issue.

Two senior leaders of Hurriyat, Nayeem Khan of Nationalist Front (NF) and Shabir Shah of Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), have openly rejected bilateralism and quiet diplomacy making things complicated for the top brass of the conglomerate who have openly admitted that back channels are active for restarting the peace process.

“Quiet talks or quiet diplomacy is against the Hurriyat constitution. People are against this formula and want transparency in the talks. The Kashmir issue has three parties and it is necessary that all are roped in for its resolution,” said Khan.

The Moderate Hurriyat Conference had revived its triangular dialogue formula to reach out to India and Pakistan in a bid to find a resolution of the Kashmir issue. Hurriyat hawks led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani too are out to spoil the party of the moderates in Jammu and Kashmir.