New Delhi: Failing to make any breakthrough with the Centre on the Kashmir issue, the Hurriyat Conference on March 15 met Congress president and Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of the alleged harassment from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

The three-member delegation comprising former chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yaseen Malik and senior leader of Ettehadul Musalmeen Khalil Mohammad met Gandhi for nearly 40 minutes and briefed her about the present situation in the state.

The three leaders avoided the waiting mediapersons outside Gandhi's residence. This was the first meeting of the amalgam leaders with any prominent political person publicly.

However, Hurriyat sources said the delegation apprised her about the banning of the religious institutions in the valley including madrassas.

The Hurriyat delegation, which is in the capital to hold consultations with diplomats on the possibility of Kashmir solution on the Irish peace process pattern, conveyed to the Congress president that the secular face of the country's polity had taken a beating after the BJP government came to power.

Farooq and Malik (Farooq and Malik) had recently met former Prime Minister V P Singh and were planning to meet Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPM) leader Somnath Chaterjee and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The move would be watched carefully in the valley as this was the first attempt at wider political consultations.

PTI