The Hindu : 'Peace efforts in J&K will be hit'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 10, 2003

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'Peace efforts in J&K will be hit'

By Vinay Kumar

Mirwaiz Moulvi Umer Farooq

NEW DELHI JAN. 9. Describing the Government's decision to suspend his passport for a month as "most unfortunate", the former Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, said today that it would hamper efforts to initiate dialogue to usher in lasting peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Talking to The Hindu here tonight, the Mirwaiz said the decision was "most ill-conceived" as it had come at a time when efforts were being made by several quarters to broad base the process of dialogue to restore peace and tranquillity in the State that had witnessed militancy and violence for the past 12 years.

Visibly pained and upset over what he termed as an "inhuman" decision to impose a curb on his foreign travel, the Mirwaiz said he had planned to visit Dubai to see his sister and then his in-laws who were settled in the United States. "It was to be a purely family visit. I have not visited my in-laws since my marriage and I was to pay them a visit in New York. My mother wanted to see my sister in Dubai and we would have stayed there for a week before proceeding to New York. All our formal travel arrangements had been made, visas were in place and we were to leave this Saturday. Little did I know that even my personal visits abroad will meet this kind of fate from an insensitive official machinery here," he said.

The former Hurriyat chief, whose voice is regarded as reasonable, moderate and credible in and out of the State, said: "The decision to suspend my passport is completely insane. It will create a much deeper wedge between the Kashmiri people and New Delhi. It has come at a time when everyone, including the Kashmir Committee of Ram Jethamalani, was making efforts to broaden the base of dialogue. New avenues were being explored and even the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, had expressed his willingness to broaden the dialogue process and look for newer avenues.

All these meetings with the Kashmir Committee and others were helping to create a positive effect. And now, this unfortunate and surprising decision of the Government has come as a rude shock".

Curiously, the Government's brief notice, signed by the Chief Passport Officer, says that travel of the Mirwaiz was not in the interest of the "sovereignty and integrity of India" and cited the oft-quoted "public interest" to suspend the passport which was likely to be impounded or revoked at a later stage under Section 10 of the Passport Act, 1967.

It allowed him eight weeks to appeal against the order to the Srinagar passport office.

The Mirwaiz said that as the religious head of the Kashmiri Muslims he found the Government's decision "humiliating" and an insult to the institution of Mirwaiz, which is held by the people in great esteem.

Asked about media reports on his alleged involvement in anti-India activities, he described them as "totally baseless and motivated". His visit to Dubai in April last, where the senior Hurriyat leader, the late Abdul Gani Lone was also present, was carried on with the full knowledge of the Government. "The Government was aware of our meeting with Sardar Qayoom Khan and other Kashmiri expatriates from America, Canada and other countries. We wanted to initiate the peace process and had nothing to do with anything else.''

Referring to his statement at the OIC meeting last September, he denied having made any suggestion to impose economic or oil sanctions against India.

"My statement at the OIC was reproduced verbatim in several newspapers.

It was also on the website. Wherever we went, we did talk about the Kashmir problem and said it remained a political problem and needed to be solved through dialogue,'' he said.

The Mirwaiz also stoutly denied any involvement in any financial dealing with the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence.

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