Kashmiri separatist leaders believe the Indian government has hardened its stand on the Kashmir issue.

Speaking to newsmen in Srinagar on Wednesday, All Parties Huriyat Conference Chief, Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, said, "They want to break our nerve through death sentences and life imprisonments, but if they think this would deter us from our struggle, they are mistaken."

Bhat, referring to Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, said, "He has been trying hard to create an impression that we are terrorists, but ours is a just and legitimate freedom struggle that has been recognised by the world community and, therefore, such references are unacceptable to us."

Bhat said the separatist movement in Kashmir was "in accordance with the pledges made by the Indian leaders and the provisions of international law" and if the "Indian leaders believed that they could break the nerve of the freedom loving Kashmiris, they are gravely mistaken."

"We speak the language of Gandhi and Nehru who promised that Kashmiris would be given an opportunity to decide their fate and you cannot hang us for speaking that language. Nehru was not a terrorist," Bhat said.

The separatist chief dismissed the possibilities of the new state government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed making any difference at the ground level.

"He is India's surrogate like Farooq Abdullah. He is no master. He did not fulfill his election promises of disbanding the special operations group and release of political prisoners," Bhat said.

He further added that had Mufti been a leader then the senior separatist Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani would not have been languishing in the prison despite a suspected cancer ailment.

"He would have been with us. If Mufti were any master then the passport of Mirwaiz Umer Farooq would not have been suspended," Bhat said.

Speaking about the possibility of the separatist Huryat leaders engaging themselves in parleys with the Indian government's interlocutor K C Pant, who is reportedly embarking on another dialogue process with the separatist leaders, Bhat said, "We are a group of twenty five parties. We will meet and discuss it."