For the first time in the 121-day-long agitation in the Kashmir Valley, the government allowed separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik to hold a joint meet here on Sunday.
The decision is aimed at opening a window to end the four-month-long logjam. A similar exercise was disallowed by the police on November 2.
Rejects PM’s statementLater, in a joint statement, the Hurriyat leaders rejected the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “development is the cornerstone of the Kashmir solution.”
“The struggle of the people of Kashmir is not for any economic benefit or package but for determining the future of millions of its residents,” said the statement.
The leaders accused the authorities of “denying political space to them.”
Describing the burning of 33 educational institutions in the Valley as “Satanic acts,” the separatists alleged that the attacks were “a ploy to defame the ongoing struggle.”
On the government’s move to hold examinations in November and relaxing syllabus for students, the separatists said such a move would “tell upon the educational standards.”
The Hurriyat leaders have invited traders, educationists, transporters, civil society members and religious, social and political organisations on Tuesday to jointly discuss the future course of action.
Bid to set fire to schoolIn another development, miscreants attempted to set on fire the Government Boys Higher Secondary School at Zakoora here on Saturday.
The furniture in the school was partially damaged, said a police spokesman.
