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| SEPARATISTS TO FOCUS ON KASHMIR CENTRIC TALKS DURING MEETING WITH PAK FOREIGN SECRETARY | | |
Srinagar, November 10
Leaders of All Party Hurriyat Conference, Tehrik Hurriyat Conference,Democratic Freedom party and the JKLF are eagerly awaiting meeting with Pakistan Foreign secretary Riaz Ahmed on the sidelines of foreign secretary level talks between India and Pakistan in New Delhi on November 14.
Official sources told Kashmir Independent Press though the state agencies are against allowing meeting between separatist leaders and Pakistan Foreign secretary but the union Home Ministry has preferred not to cast a shadow on the meet by raking up the invitation issue.
The ground work for the scheduled meeting was completed much in advance as special invites were received by these separatists leaders from the Pakistan High Commissioner to India.
According to reports, the APHC will be represented in the talks by Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat,Mr Bilal Gani Lone,Molvi Abbas Ansari and Aga Hassan Budgami(all members of the executive committee),Syed Ali Shah Geelani from Tehrik Hurriyat Conference,Mr Mohd.Yasin Mailk from the JKLF and Mr Shabir Ahmed Shah from Democratic Freedom Party too have been invited by Mr Khan.
According to Prof. Bhat “the leaders of APHC are to meet the foreign secretary in the evening of November 14.” “we shall meet Mr Khan not with other separatist leaders,”he said adding that “when ideas and strategies differ there is no purpose of meeting the foreign secretary in the company of Mr Geelani,Mr Malik and Mr Shah.”
In reply to a question Prof. Bhat said “we will impress upon Mr Khan to take steps so that the ongoing dialogue will produce results.”
Asked whether the APHC team will press for their involvement in the talks Prof. Bhat said “we have been talking with India and with Pakistan.If there are yawning gaps between one meeting and the other it does not matter.”
When reminded that as per the agenda the two sides were scheduled to discuss the Siachen issue with pointed reference to Sir Creek the APHC leader said that “if the two sides discuss the Siachen dispute it does not indicate that the Kashmir issue does not exist.” He said “both Delhi and Islamabad know that since Kashmir was the mother of all problems it had to be resolved in the interest of peace in the subcontinent.”
He said that “it is imperative for Delhi and Islamabad to keep the bilateral talks Kashmir centric even if the two sides discuss Siachen and other allied issues.” Prof. Bhat made it clear that the APHC has been a votary of sustained but purposeful talks and a day was not far off when such parleys were going to bear fruits.
Official sources said that state authorities had conveyed to the union Home Ministry that inviting Kashmiri separatists to talks by the Pakistan Foreign secretary on the sidelines of the foreign secretary level talks usually sent wrong signals. The authorities had suggested that such interaction should be prohibited on the Indian soil though invitation to these separatists during Iftihar parties in the Pakistan High commission in Delhi was altogether different from the one in the pipeline. |
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