Sunday, June 12 2005 16:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Rejecting the call by moderate Hurriyat leaders to militant groups to take a backseat and support the political leadership to work out a solution to the Kashmir issue, Pakistan-based militant group Hizbul Mujahideen has said that the situation in the valley warranted in the militancy to continue.

"The situation (in Kashmir) had aggravated and in such circumstances the requirement for armed struggle had increased," Hizbul leader Sayed Salahuddin said from Muzafarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) in response to the call by visiting moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The moderate leader had said militant groups should allow the political leadership to take the front in view of the prevailing situation after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on United States.

Salahuddin, who operates from the PoK capital as also Rawalpindi, rejected Farooq's assertions that UN resolutions on Kashmir have failed to deliver.

"Launch of different options, while openly deviating from the United Nations resolutions, is a condemnable attempt to deprive the 56-year-old freedom struggle of its strong historic, moral and legal base," Salahuddin, who heads United Jehad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of militant groups, was quoted as saying by local daily 'Dawn' today.

Farooq, in an interview to the same newspaper once again appealed to militant groups, saying "The need of the hour is to focus on a political settlement of the Kashmir problem. Those who are engaged in militancy should also be taken into confidence."