Srinagar: Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani today admitted that the separatists poll boycott call evoked no response from the people in Jammu and Kashmir and renewed his appeal, saying elections in the past had failed to resolve the Kashmir issue.
"The pro-freedom leadership has called for boycott of polls but no serious attention was paid to the call (by the people) so far,", Geelani said in a statement here. He said the turnout during the first three phases of elections despite anti-election protests at various places, was an indication that the people of Kashmir had fallen prey to the "deceit" of the mainstream political parties. "We have once again demonstrated that we are easily falling prey to deceit.
Today, those seeking votes are promising resolution of Kashmir issue but the reality is that these are the people (mainstream leaders) who are the major obstacle in the resolution of the problem," the hardline leader said. Stating that the poll boycott call was neither a "formality" nor a "sentimental" appeal, he said elections were held in the past too, but there was no forward movement on the resolution to the Kashmir issue. He said he was compassionately renewing the appeal for boycott of elections on December seven and will continue to do so till the last round of elections on December 24.
