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They are 'brief house arrests'

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi Sept. 6. Officials dealing with Jammu and Kashmir are rather unapologetic about the three-hour long "house arrest'' of the leaders of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference in Srinagar. The brief "house arrest'' is being justified on the ground that these Hurriyat leaders were planning to use the Friday congregations in the various mosques to preach a "boycott'' of the elections. The authorities were rather determined that the leaders would not be allowed to use places of worship for political activity, just as they had done last Friday.

The officials insisted that the idea was not at all to prevent the Hurriyat leaders from going to New Delhi to meet the Kashmir Committee, headed by the former Union Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani.

In fact, it is pointed out that the police officials offered to escort the Hurriyat chairman, Abdul Gani Bhat, to the airport; but being the past master at media management, Prof. Bhat summoned photographers and cameramen to announce his "house arrest.'' It is learnt that Prof. Bhat and the Hurriyat executive member, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, are likely to arrive here tomorrow. The Mirwaiz has been in touch with the Kashmir Committee convener, Ashok Bhan.

The committee, of course, promptly condemned the "arrests'' as part of the Farooq Abdullah Government's "mischievous design" to provoke the Hurriyat leaders into issuing a formal call for a boycott of the elections.

Nonetheless, the Centre is unmoved as the collective view is that the Hurriyat leadership remains vulnerable to arm-twisting from Pakistan.

Therefore, it would make no sense for the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister to grant an audience to anyone — the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party leader, Shabir Shah, or the Hurriyat leaders — who wants to keep away from the election process at a time when a large number of individuals, leaders and political parties are taking the risk of participating in the polls.

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