Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 25: Even the country continues to mourn the killings of Indians including security force personnel who attainted martyrdom while fighting Pakistani attacks in the recent past, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and Bharatiya Janta Party alliance allegedly facilitated a meeting between the separatists and Pakistan, in the grab of Pakistan Day held in New Delhi the previous day.
The government allowed over half a dozen separatist leaders to attend the Pakistan Day function held on March 23 at the Pakistani embassy in the national capital.
Sources said on the sidelines of the Pakistan Day, the separatists held secret deliberations with Pakistan High Commission. It was reliably learnt that the separatist leadership was given some new directives by their Pakistani handlers.
Sources said most of the separatists who attended the event are linked to Hurriyat Conference (M) led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Those separatists who attended the Pakistan Day Celebrations event include Agha Syed Hassan Mousavi, Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar, Hakim Abdul Rasheed, Syed Basheer Indrabi, Shahid Salim, Syed Salim Geelani, Mussadiq Adil, Bilal Siddiqui, Shabbir Ahmad Dar, Yasmeen Raja and Hilal War.
Many of them have been under the radar of the National Instigative Agency (NIA) for terror funding. Aga Hassan's house in Budgam was raided by NIA last year in connection with a case of allegedly getting terror funds from Pakistan.
Sources said some of the officers of the Pakistani High Commission held closed-door interactions with the separatists on how to keep Kashmir on the boil.
Official sources said while the government was aware of the list of all the separatists who were invited by Pakistan, no measures were taken for preventing the invitees from attending the celebrations.
"Had the government taken a decision, none of them would have been allowed to travel to Delhi at the first instance, but the point is the that both the coalition partners agreed to allow them to meet," said a senior officer on the condition of anonymity.
Soon after coming out of the Pakistan embassy, the separatists started bashing India. Describing the appointment of interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma as "eyewash", Hurriyat leaders said that "India must accept the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir."
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