March 19, 2002

'5'

    The Hurriyat Conference had made an announcement on January 1, 2002 regarding its intentions of setting up their parallel election commission to elect representatives who would participate in any negotiations on Kashmir. As per Hurriyat, the said commission would be governed by rules to be framed later. The move of Hurriyat has been criticised by the people, intelligensia, political parties aqnd media, and has reportedly been questioned even by some members of Hurriyat. There should not be any apprehension about political or security implication of such a move, as the proposal of Hurriyat has the portents of aborting the move even before its full conception, in view of the impracticality of implementation. The Minister of State for Home Shri Ch. Vidyasagar Rao said this in the Lok Sabha in a written reply today. He said the Government is keeping a watch on the matter.