Islamabad, Dec 31: Islamabad has invited the Hurriyat to hold talks with Pakistan Senate Chairman Farooq Ahmad Naik and Speaker of Parliament Fahmida Mirza during their visit to New Delhi in the first week of January.
Pakistan has also invited hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani for the talks. Both moderate and hardline factions will meet the visiting Pakistani delegation on January 6.
However, there is an air of uncertainty over the Hurriyat visit to Islamabad, which was to take place in December.
“Our talks with the visiting Pakistani leadership are part of the ongoing talks process to resolve the Kashmir issue,” moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told The Indian Express. Asked if the meeting with the visiting Pakistanis was a prelude to the Hurriyat’s visit to Pakistan, Mirwaiz said the visit might “take some time”.
Geelani said he will meet the delegation and put forward his “known position on Kashmir”. The outreach to Geelani can be read as a signal to the moderates about Pakistan’s current position on the ongoing process on Kashmir.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of a subtle re-adjustment in Islamabad’s policy towards various groups in Kashmir. Islamabad has made its disapproval known regarding an exclusive Hurriyat-Centre engagement.
–Agencies