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Hurriyat hopeful of getting passports
to its delegation

''I am hopeful that the Government of India will issue the necessary travel documents,'' Hurriyat chairman Abdul Ghani Butt said.

Reacting to the statement of Union Home Minister L K Advani that government will not be guided by Hurriyat's stand, Butt said, ''We too do not want our delegation to be named by New Delhi.''

He said, "We are not going on a pleasure trip to Pakistan. The delegation, announced by the executive of the 23-party alliance on Thursday, will not go to Pakistan if passports are not released to all the five members," Butt declared.

Asked whether there was any pressure on him from any quarter in formulating the members of the delegation, Butt said, "We don't succumb to pressure. There was no pressure from any quarter over finalisation of the team."

"It was our own decision and there was no role for anybody in the composition of the delegation," Butt added.

He said he opted out from the delegation as he was authorised by the executive to choose the members of the delegation.

Butt dismissed reports that firebrand Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was included in the team following pressure from a 'unfamiliar militant outfit'.

However, he said, the executive expressed grave concern over the activities of the Mujahideen-e-Haq whose activists made an abortive attempt on the life of Hurriyat leader Shahidul Islam recently.

"We do not know who these people are and on whose behest they are working," Butt said and warned them not to indulge in anti-Hurriyat activities.

He said the executive meeting took a serious note of the attack on Shahidul Islam and threats being received by some other leaders of the alliance. "These deliberate acts were aimed at creating confusion in the conglomerate," he added.

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