INDIA: VISITING PAKISTAN PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF MEETS WITH INDIAN KASHMIR SEPARATIST LEADERS
Record ID:
1372072
INDIA: VISITING PAKISTAN PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF MEETS WITH INDIAN KASHMIR SEPARATIST LEADERS
- Title: INDIA: VISITING PAKISTAN PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF MEETS WITH INDIAN KASHMIR SEPARATIST LEADERS
- Date: 19th April 2005
- Summary: (BN14) NEW DELHI, INDIA (APRIL 17, 2005) (REUTERS) SV SYED SHAH GEELANI, LEADER OF HARDLINE FACTION OF ALL PARTIES HURRIYAT CONFERENCE, COMING OUT OF PAKISTAN HOUSE IN NEW DELHI AFTER MEETING PAKISTAN PRESIDENT GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF; MV GEELANI STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) SYED ALI SHAH GEELANI, HARLDLINE SEPARATIST LEADER, SAYING: "We have told him (General Pervez Musharraf) that please address the core issue. As long as you discuss issues other than the core issue, it creates confusion amongst us." GEELANI LEAVING Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th April 2014 12:18
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW DELHI, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAB2DVNGQ468TYLF98AWAZ8XFD9
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Musharraf meets Indian Kashmir separatist leaders, invites them to visit Pakistan.
The moderate faction of Indian Kashmir's main separatist alliance on Sunday (April 17, 2005) welcomed India-Pakistan peace initiatives but added they remained incomplete if Kashmiris were not involved in the talks.
Leaders of different factions of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) met visiting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf separately in New Delhi after he held a detailed meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "We have said that as far as far as the process of dialogue is concerned vis-a-vis India and Pakistan, we support it. We support the CBMs (confidence-building measures), we support the measures, but we believe that it is an incomplete process," APHC acting chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq told reporters after their meeting with Musharraf.
On being asked what was Musharraf's reaction, Farooq said the Pakistani leader wanted the Kashmiris to be involved in the entire process.
"He agreed that yes Kashmiris have to be involved. He said that we are taking up the issue with the government of India," the Kashmiri separatist leader said.
Farooq added that President Musharraf invited them to visit Pakistan and Azad (Free) Kashmir to hold talks.
"He said that we are looking forward for the Hurriyat Conference to come to Pakistan, Azad Kashmir to talk with your brothers, you talk with the leadership there, you talk with India, you talk with Pakistan. This is the way to go,"
he said.
In reply to a question when would Hurriyat leadership meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Farooq said the Singh would have to take a call on that.
"I have said so many times that Hurriyat is keen to meet him. It now depends on the PM (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) whether he wants to meet us," Farooq said.
Last week, Singh said he was ready to meet the Hurriyat leaders.
Meanwhile, hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who leads the breakaway faction, said Musharraf should reinforce Kashmir as the "core issue" between the two countries.
Geelani said the confidence building measures launched by the two sides were meaningless as long as Kashmir's fate was not decided.
"We have told him (General Pervez Musharraf) that please address the core issue. As long as you discuss other issues other than the core issue, it creates confusion amongst us," Geelani said.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is an alliance of about two dozen political separatist groups, some of them fighting for Kashmir's independence and others for its merger with Pakistan.
The alliance has been considerably weakened after a hardline faction, backed by Muslim guerrillas fighting against Indian rule in the disputed state, walked out in 2003 opposing peace talks with New Delhi.
The moderate faction of the Hurriyat held two rounds of talks before the negotiations broke down in August last year over a Hurriyat precondition that alliance leaders be allowed to visit Pakistan for consultations before resuming talks, a position rejected by New Delhi.
Ties between the two countries have warmed considerably but they remain far apart on their most contentious dispute and Musharraf, while optimistic, has said he has few expectations from this visit.
Both countries fully claim the Himalayan region of Kashmir, at the heart of their rivalry. India blames Pakistan for a 15-year-old Islamic insurgency against its rule in Kashmir, a revolt that has killed tens of thousands of people.
Pakistan denies the charge and says it provides only moral and diplomatic support to those fighting against the Indian rule. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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