J&K separatists in Delhi for talks with Pak Foreign Secy

A day ahead of their meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan, delegates from the Hurriyat Conference...

A day ahead of their meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan, delegates from the Hurriyat Conference and the JKLF said the focus of their discussions would be on determining the role of Kashmir in the Indo-Pak peace dialogue.

Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani left for New Delhi today to meet Khan on the sidelines of foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan to be held November 13-14. At a press conference in Srinagar, Geelani said the meeting with Khan would provide him with the opportunity to put across Hurriyat’s position. Though he didn’t say he was looking for a meeting ground with Pakistan, Geelani this time sounded conciliatory: “I would try to see their point of view and also expect them to give me a proper hearing,” he said.

The invitation to Geelani for a one-on-one meeting with the Pakistani Foreign Secretary is being seen as a prelude to renewed engagement with Islamabad, which wants Geelani on board the Indo-Pak peace process. An immediate and tangible step like a Kashmir ceasefire looks necessary to infuse new life into the diplomatic effort.

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Talking to The Indian Express, Geelani had said, “I get the impression that Pakistan now genuinely feels the need to talk to me and listen to my point of view.” This will be Geelani’s first meeting with any senior Pakistani official after his meeting with President Pervez Musharraf in April 2005. At that time Geelani had curtly turned down the Pakistani leader’s overtures to him to support the Indo-Pak dialogue, telling Musharraf to stop marginalising him in the larger scheme of the peace process.

Pakistan has also invited the moderate Hurriyat faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other major separatists like JKLF chief Yaseen Malik and Shabir Shah. “We would like to have first hand information about the recent developments between India and Pakistan and if Kashmir would figure in the discussions between the two countries,” Peoples’ Conference leader Bilal Lone said. “Kashmir and the long standing problems that have been lingering should not be forgotten,” he said.

Echoing Lone was JKLF chief Yasin Malik, who said the efforts would be to ensure Kashmir occupied centrestage in the talks between the two countries. “We will discuss all issues associated with the matter. We would like to see that the state is not relegated to the background in the dialogue.”

Khan will meet the representatives on Tuesday evening at the High Commissioner’s residence of at Tilak Marg. Among the moderate leaders who have reached New Delhi include Abdul Gani Bhat and Shabir Shah.