Mirwaiz suspends aide for rejecting backdoor talks
The Centre’s backdoor diplomacy with Kashmiri separatists has claimed its first casualty.
The Centre’s backdoor diplomacy with Kashmiri separatists has claimed its first casualty. Mohammad Yousuf Naqash, a close aide of moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has been suspended for rejecting the talks.
Naqash, president of Islamic Political Party (IPP) and a general council member of the Hurriyat Conference, was suspended after he wrote an article in a newspaper rejecting the quiet diplomacy between the separatists and the Centre. The matter was enough to provoke Mirwaiz, who shot off a letter suspending him from the Hurriyat. “I was not given any show cause notice. I was just given a chit saying you are suspended from Hurriyat,” said Naqash.
The order comes exactly a month after Hurriyat disbanded all its posts and issued a gag order on members, after top leaders, including former provincial president of Hurriyat Nayeem Khan, rejected backdoor diplomacy and asked leaders to retire.