The two factions of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front based in India and Pakistan on Thursday announced they had completed their merger, and would work together on issues like a campaign to halt the execution of terror convict Afzal Guru.
The process for reuniting the factions began on August 12 with a meeting of their leaders, Amanullah Khan and Yasin Malik, in Rawalpindi.
The factions formed a special committee to oversee the merger and this body finalised the process on September 18, JKLF leader Muhammad Rafiq Dar said.
The JKLF, which was formed to wage an armed struggle, split into two factions in 1995 after Malik publicly renounced violence. Dar and Amanullah Khan told a news conference at the Press Club here that leaders of the JKLF in both parts of Kashmir will now jointly work on issues, including moves to highlight alleged human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir and the “Save Afzal Guru Campaign” launched by Mr Malik.
Guru, a Kashmiri who was convicted for conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, was sentenced to death in 2004. Guru is on a death row and the Opposition is pressing the government to carry out his execution. — PTI