Hurriyat abandons meetings with diplomats

new delhi: a three-member hurriyat conference delegation headed by its former chairman syed ali shah geelani on monday decided to abandon proposed meetings with diplomatic corps in the capital and return to srinagar following alleged crackdown on its second rung leaders. hurriyat conference had sent the delegation here to meet diplomats of different countries to find an "honourbale and fair" solution to the kashmir issue.besides firebrand jamaat-e-islami leader syed ali shah geelani, the delegation comprised peoples conference chairman abdul gani lone and jklf president mohammad yassen malik. the hurriyat conference said in a statement here that the decision to return was taken after the government started crackdown on second rung leadership of the conglomerate. "houses of 60 leaders in srinagar city have been raided during the last two nights whereas the details of those arrested and raids from the rural areas are still not available," the statement said. "in view of this worst and unfortunate crackdown the delegation has decided to leave back for srinagar," it added. asking the international community to take note of the "repressive crackdown", it said the step was an immediate fall out of government's policy in the wake of the steps announced by pakistani president pervez musharraf. meanwhile, hurriyat conference chairman abdul gani bhat expressed his ignorance about the decision taken by the delegation but said "well they had been authorised to take whatever decision they wanted."