Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (M) on Sunday termed withdrawal of police security to three of its members including chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq no issue for it, asserting that with or without these police personnel at the leaders residences all remains the same.
“The Government and its propagandist anti-Kashmir media had repeatedly been racking up the issue of police personnel provided to resistance leadership to politicize despite knowing the fact, it has no bearing nor can it in any way change the reality of the lingering Kashmir dispute or the situation on ground or our principled stand and outlook regarding its resolution,” a spokesman of the amalgam said in a statement issued here. Besides Mirwaiz, the government withdrew police cover to its former chairman Prof Abdul Gani Bhat and Bilal Gani Lone, whose brother was a minister in erstwhile PDP-BJP government.
“With or without these police personnel at Hurriyat Conference leaders residences all remains the same,” he said. The Spokesman said whenever the issue has been made centre stage, Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has repeatedly said from the pulpit of Jamia Masjid that the Government can withdraw it.
“The Hurriyat leaders had never asked for it. Infact, it was the government that insisted on keeping the personnel based on what they said was their assessment of threat perception.”
He said it was always the decision of the government to keep or remove personnel “but has never been an issue for us.”