Two fathers-in-law talk Kashmir

Two fathers-in-law talk Kashmir
AASHA KHOSA

ISLAMABAD, NOVEMBER 18: ``I have taken the biggest risk of my life,'' says an excited Amanullah Khan, the Islamabad-based Kashmiri separatist leader about the marriage of his daughter Asma with the son of Kashmir-based Hurriyat Conference leader Abdul Ghani Lone. ``There is every possibility that I may never get to see my only child after the marriage as I cannot visit India.''

Unlike Lone, Khan is not coy about admitting the political significance of the marriage. ``This marriage has offered a chance for two pro-freedom leaders to forge a new relationship and it would certainly further the cause of an independent Jammu and Kashmir.''

He also makes no bones that he intends to make most of the occasion for his political goal.

Talking to The Indian Express at a local hotel where he visits his invitees from India several times a day, Khan said he would sit with Lone after the marriage. ``When two politicians sit they certainly are not going to discuss the weather,'' he laughs.

Khan is wanted by Indian authorities in the abduction and murder of the UK-based diplomat Mhatre 15 years ago and hence won't be able to visit his daughter after the marriage.

Pakistani people seem to have little interest in this political marriage but the occasion has further accentuated the inherent tensions between the pro-independence and and pro-Pakistan lobbies among the Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists.

The rival separatist groups frequently use terms like ``riashumariwalle'' (pro-plebscite) and ``khudmukhtariwalle'' (pro-freedom) to flaunt their respective approach to issue of Kashmir. The former are pro-Pakisanis who want secession of Kashmir through plebscite while the latter are for total independence to the entire state of undivided Jammu and Kashmir. The ``khudmukhtari'' groups are perceived as anti-Pakistan.

Lone's supporters are trying to maintain a low profile, more so after they sensed the indifference of the Pakistani authorities towards his presence in Pakistan. Nawa-e-waqt, the Urdu language daily from Lahore highlighted the cold-shouldering of Lone by the Pakistan establishment.

Although preparations for tomorrow's marriage ceremony are going apace, a sense of big-brother-is-watching seems to lurk in Lone's camp here. He has refrained from visiting any of the political leaders here.

Besides, Lone's camp is intrigued by the last-minute refusal by Mirwaiz Omer Farooq and Abbas Ansari to join the marriage ceremonies. Lone confessed he was surprised at the behaviour of the Mirwaiz.