Pakistan high commissioner to meet Hurriyat's Mirwaiz on Monday

SRINAGAR/ NEW DELHI: Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit will meet moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on Monday during which a host of issues are expected to come up and he will also be apprised of the "ground situation" in Kashmir.

A seven-member delegation of the separatist outfit, led by the Mirwaiz, left Srinagar on Sunday for the meeting at the invitation of the Pakistan envoy.

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"The Hurriyat leaders will discuss various aspects of Kashmir issue and apprise the Pakistan high commissioner about the ground situation in Kashmir," a Hurriyat spokesman said.

"Hurriyat executive members — the Mirwaiz, Abdul Gani Bhat, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Gani Lone, Aga Syed Hassan, Mussadiq Adil and Mukhtar Ahmad Waza — left for Delhi on an invitation by Pakistan high commissioner," he said.

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The meeting comes nearly a fortnight after Basit had gone to the Delhi residence of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and updated him about the talks between foreign secretary S Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry in Islamabad earlier this month to bring back on track the stalled Indo-Pak dialogue process.

"Yes, I will be meeting the Pakistani high commissioner. We are very happy that the two countries have come back to the dialogue table," the Mirwaiz had earlier told PTI.

He said Hurriyat Conference always wanted that the two countries should be talking and resolving all outstanding issues including Kashmir.

"We in Hurriyat believe that we can act as a bridge between the two countries in finding a lasting solution to the vexed Kashmir issue," he had said in Srinagar.



Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq along with senior Hurriyat leaders during a one day seminar on Right to Self determination and United Nations Resolutions in Srinagar. (TOI Photo by Bilal Bahadur)

The Mirwaiz faction of the Hurriyat has advocated negotiations between the two countries and has held talks with the previous NDA regime led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and UPA government of Manmohan Singh.

The Narendra Modi government had cancelled foreign secretary-level talks in August last year after Basit had met Kashmiri separatist leaders ahead of meeting, ignoring calls by the Indian government not to go ahead with it.

However, after the BJP entered into an alliance with PDP in Jammu & Kashmir, it was agreed that every stakeholder "irrespective of their ideological views and predilections" will be taken on board.

The alliance for agenda of the PDP-BJP said "coalition government will facilitate and help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all internal stakeholders, which will include all political groups irrespective of their ideological views and predilections. This dialogue will seek to build a broad-based consensus on resolution of all outstanding issues of Jammu and Kashmir".

Another delegation comprising representatives of the general council of the Hurriyat will also leave for Delhi on Monday to attend the Pakistan Day celebrations.

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