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Differences have begun cropping within the 23-party Hurriyat Conference over the formation of a parallel 'election commission' with some executive members of the amalgam and second rung leaders raising objection for not having been consulted over the issue.
Hurriyat insiders said that two executive members of the conglomerate had objected to the formation of the team saying that none of the minority leaders had been included in the commission.
Sources said that the 'election commission' was the brainchild of JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, who received the backing of Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat.
Earlier, the Hurriyat Conference's executive committee, which met last week, failed to arrive at any decision on the members of the proposed poll panel as two of its leaders - Abdul Gani Lone and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq - were away in the national capital.
However, soon after, Bhat announced the composition of the panel even though the two leaders were still in the capital.
Hurriyat sources said that besides these two leaders, even the chief of the panel Tapan Bose was not consulted about his inclusion in the panel.
Before making the announcement, Bhat had deputed Malik to seek their support of another separatist leader Shabir Shah, former J&K chief minister G M Shah and Jamaat leader G M Bhat, the sources said.
However, second rung leaders of the People's Conference, Muslim Conference and Jamat-e-Islamia raised objections pointing out that the Hurriyat had not taken up the issue of holding elections in Gilgit and Baltistan, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, though some Hurriyat constituents, including the Students League and People's League, had objected to the exclusion of these two areas, the sources said.
The Hurriyat insiders said that fire-brand Jamaat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was supporting the idea purely because Pakistan had welcomed the move.
The Hurriyat's poll panel comprises former chief justice of Pakistan Sajjad Ali Shah and human rights activist Tapan Bose as chief election commissioners and former chief justice of Pakistan Raja Khursheed, journalist Ved Bhasin, scholar Siddiqui Wahid and Dr Zafar Mehdi representing PoK, Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir, respectively as members.
Little known Wahid and Mehdi found a place in the panel because of their close association with Yasin Malik, the sources said.
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