Sajjad Lone lashes out at Mirwaiz

SRINAGAR: Reflecting an open split in the ranks of separatists, Sajjad Lone has lashed out at the Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq describing him as a "glorified errand boy" of India and Pakistan.

Lone, a separatist leader who has broken away from Hurriyat to contest the current Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla constituency, accused the Mirwaiz of doing "more damage to Kashmiris than anybody else".

41-year-old Lone, son of former separatist stalwart Abdul Ghani Lone who was killed by Hizbul Mujahideen four years ago, criticized the Hurriyat Chairman for reversing the decision not to call for a boycott of the election.

"He has a history of U-turns. He doesn't know what he is talking about. I don't see him as a separatist or a pro-movement leader," Lone told NDTV here.

"He is a glorified errand boy of India and Pakistan. He is a glorified errand boy, nothing else."

Lone wanted "saner voices" like Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, Yaseen Malik, his brother Bilal Lone or Maulana Abbas Ansari," to come up and take over" the Hurriyat. He pointed out that he had been very vociferous in calling for a boycott of the state Assembly polls in November-December but 75 per cent of people in Kupwara, which was his stronghold, had voted. This was a "defeat for me personally", he said.

He had, therefore, chosen to contest the Lok Sabha elections because the "disconnect between people and leaders cannot be aggravated to the point you do not know each other." Asked if he feared for his safety during the campaigning, Lone said that he was campaigning in the open till late in the day in places where there is no electricity. He did not worry.

However, at the same time he thinks of his young children who he does not want to grow up as orphans.

"But then life and death are in the hands of Allah, not gunmen," he added.