New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) The murderous attack on moderate Hurriyat leader Fazal Haq Qureshi will not be allowed to derail the peace process in Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Saturday while condemning the “cowardly” assault on one of the known peaceniks of the state.
“I am deeply distressed by the attack on Qureshi. The cowardly attack won’t be allowed to derail the peace process. We will continue the quiet dialogue with all shades of opinion (in Jammu and Kashmir),” Chidambaram said in a statement.

“These are the elements which, in the past, have pushed Jammu and Kashmir to the brink of a crisis. It is also clear that these elements act at the behest of forces that are inimical to India,” the minister said.

Qureshi, a senior leader of the moderate Hurriyat group headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has been a vocal supporter of the dialogue process to solve the Kashmir issue peacefully.

He was shot and critically wounded outside his Soura house Friday evening when he was leaving for prayers at a mosque. Four men shot him from close range. He received bullet injuries to his head and is in critical but stable condition in a Srinagar hospital.

Al-Nasireen, a little-known guerrilla group believed to be the operational combine of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfits, late Friday called local media offices and claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack is largely seen as a warning to the Mirwaiz and his colleagues to stop attempting to talk to New Delhi. “Quiet talks” are going on between the union government and the separatist leaders of Kashmir.