Srinagar: In an effort to procure broader consensus and unite the separatist platform ahead of parleys with Centre later this month, the Hurriyat Conference today (Dec 3, 2003) formally invited senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah to join the amalgam and appealed to dissident faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani to return.

"We have sent a formal invitation to Shabir Ahmad Shah to join the Hurriyat and once again appealed to dissidents to return to the fold of the amalgam," former Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said after a four-hour meeting at the conglomerate's headquarters at Rajbagh in Srinagar.

He said a committee was also formed to complete the formalities for induction of "four parties" into the Hurriyat, which was agreed to principle during today's meeting.

It was not yet known which of the four parties were given the green signal out of the nine which applied for induction into Hurriyat.

The nine parties included two factions of Democratic Freedom Party – headed by Shah and dissident leader Salim Geelani, Salvation Movement, Liberation League, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) – Gandroo, Jamiat-e-Ulema Kashmir and Human Rights Forum.

The joint meeting, chaired by Moulvi Mohammad Abbas Ansari, was attended by all senior members, including executive members Ansari, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Abdul Gani Bhat and Bilal Gani Lone, Hurriyat sources said.

PTI