“But that is possible only after our leaders are released and curbs on our movement lifted”.

Mirwaiz, however, said the high voter turnout in the polls did not mean a “vote against Azadi”. “Even the people, who have voted, clearly distinguished between Azadi and electoral process,” he said.

“It is not a vote against Azadi or for India. It is a vote for the (resolution of) people’s day to day problems,” said the Hurriyat leader.

The Hurriyat chairman sees a limited role for the Kashmir Coordination Committee (KCC) - an amalgam of separatist organisations, traders and transporters formed to spearhead the poll boycott campaign. “It (Coordination Committee) is sort of a bigger alliance or a working relationship with other organisations,” Mirwaiz said. “It is there but the focus has to be on Hurriyat”.

Mirwaiz asked people not to go for any strike on Friday. The Coordination Committee had been called a half-day strike and protests for the past eight consecutive Fridays that have been responded with curfew by the J-K Government. “People need a break,” he said.