PM AGREES TO MEET HURRIYAT LEADERS

NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has agreed to meet All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders either tomorrow or on Friday. The meeting, however, has not been fixed yet because the Hurriyat leaders are insisting on time on April 17 when the prime minister is scheduled to meet Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf.

Interestingly, the Hurriyat leaders had earlier agreed to meet Dr Singh on either of the two dates proposed by his office. What made them suddenly change their mind is not known. "The decision of the prime minister meeting the, Hurriyat leaders on April 14 or 15 was taken before he went to Kashmir on April 7 to flag-off the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service." sources in the prime minister's office said. The dates •were convened to APHC Chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and he accepted the same.

Now, however, the Mirwaiz has expressed his inability to be in Delhi before April 16 because of a religious ceremony back home.

Sources say Hurriyat leaders want to meet General Musharraf before interacting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as they want to have Pakistan's backing for the proposals they intend to present to GOI.

Officials in New Delhi said the new dates have to be decided depending on the prime minister's availability.

The Hurriyat had adopted a similar approach at the time of the Agra Summit in 2001.

The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had given them time to meet before the summit but the separatist conglomerate had expressed desire to meet Musharraf first As a result of which no meeting could take place between them and Vajpayee. Mirwaiz Farooq told reporters in Srinagar today that the Hurriyat

leaders wanted to meet the leaders of India and Pakistan and while Musharraf has given them time on April 17, there was "no positive response" from the Prime Minister's Office as yet. Farooq, who was speaking after meetings of the Hurriyat's execu

tive committee and general council, said the amalgam wanted to avail the opportunity to impress upon the two countries that a "permanent, honourable and just solution to without the inclusion of representatives of Kashmiris in the dialogue process. Significantly the meeting was abstained by the People's Conference leader Bilal Gani Lone.

(Kashmir Observer, 15 April, 2005)