Ground Report

The Hurriyat Conference (Mirwaiz faction) has said it was mulling to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to press India to handover the remains of Muhammad Maqbool Bhat who lies buried in Delhi’s Tihar Jail where he was hanged 24 years ago. The announcement was made here Tuesday by senior Hurriyat leader Shabir Shah during a seminar to mark “Kashmir Solidarity Day” observed by Pakistan in solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Maqbool Bhat is our national hero,” Shah said, referring to the JKLF founder who was hanged on February 11, 1984 on the charges of murdering an Indian diplomat P K Mathre in Birmingham, England.
“We’ve to get his body back from Tihar,” Shah said. A grave has been reserved for Bhat at Eidgah Martyrs Graveyard.
Shah, who recently returned to the Hurriyat fold after a gap of 11 years, also appealed the government of Pakistan to take up the issue of Bhat’s mortal remains with New Delhi New Delhi.
Meanwhile, the Hurriyat leaders at the seminar heaped praises on Pakistan government and its people for observing the “Kashmir Solidarity Day.”
Senior leader Fazal Haq Qureshi saluted the people of Pakistan for what he called raising their voice in support of the Kashmir cause despite suffering losses. He urged the Hurriyat leaders to step up their activities regarding resolution of the 60-year-old dispute.
“We cannot sit idle raising slogans like implementation of the UN resolutions and holding seminars will not help in achieving our goal,” Qureshi said. “(Pakistan President Pervez) Musharraf is a man who can resolve the Kashmir issue and India has to respond to his proposals on Kashmir.”
Veteran resistance leader Muhammad Azam Inqulabi, whose statement was read out during the seminar, said, “The Hurriyat Conference platform should be treated as a resistance parliament where everybody should be allowed to express his or her opinion and difference of opinion. It should not be confined to one ideology.”
“We’re Maqbool Bhat’s followers. We’ve to carry forward his legacy,” said Inqulabi.
Concluding the seminar, the acting Hurriyat chairman Moulvi Abbas Ansari said the leaders outside the amalgam were welcome to join the struggle. “If anybody is adamant to pursue his own course we can’t force him to change his mind. Hurriyat has the capacity of taking the ongoing movement to its logical end.”
“Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir,” Ansari added.