Nawaz Sharif to meet Kashmiri leaders in New York

New York: Though India put paid to separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s plans of coming to New York and meeting with Pakistani leaders on the sidelines of the UNGA and OIC Summit by impounding his passport, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to meet with Kashmiri separatist leaders in New York.

Geo TV reports that a meeting has been planned between Prime Minister Sharif and the Kashmiris here before his address to the UNGA which will certainly feature a strong statement on Kashmir and a warning not to include India in an expanded UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, Pakistani separatists or displaced persons of Pakistan such as mohajirs, Baloch, disgruntled Pashtoons have planned a demonstration in front of the UN on the 30th of September to protest against human rights violations, extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances and state sponsored terrorism.

Pakistan’s obduracy in bringing Kashmir on to the table before any interaction with India has ruined many channels of communication. The last one being the ill fated NSA-level talks between Sartaj Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

While Geo reports that Prime Minister Sharif wants to hold out an olive branch to India, the fact that he wants to drag Kashmir into his speech and meet with the Indian separatists shows that nothing much has changed and Pakistan’s Prime Minister will not try to walk the Ufa path again.

The talks held between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Sharif on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Ufa, Russia, had given the impression that the latter was on the saddle and prepared to walk the talk with regard to improving ties with India.

But it appears that this time Prime Minister Sharif will walk the thin and straight. (ANI)