New Delhi: Police on Saturday detained two top Kashmiri separatist leaders after they landed at New Delhi’s airport ahead of talks between Indian and Pakistani security advisers.
The two flew in from Indian Kashmir for a meeting with Sartaj Aziz, national security adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister, who is scheduled to arrive in the Indian capital on Sunday.
Shabir Ahmad Shah and two colleagues were driven away from the airport by New Delhi police, said Zameer Ahmad, who was part of Shah’s entourage.
Hours later, another separatist leader, Bilal Gani Lone, was also picked up by the police after his arrival at the airport and was later put under house arrest in New Delhi, said Shahid-ul-Islam, a spokesman for the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the main separatist umbrella group in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
India opposes Pakistani leaders meeting with Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi.
Shah heads the Democratic Freedom Party in the Indian portion of Kashmir. The group demands the right of self-determination for Kashmiri people.
The detention came as the two sides hit roadblocks over the contentious Kashmir region.
India told Aziz to avoid meeting Kashmiri separatist leaders during his visit to New Delhi for talks that New Delhi wants to focus on terrorism-related issues.
However, Pakistan has turned down India’s suggestion and said it would also discuss the decades-old Kashmir dispute with the Indian interlocutor as well. The two countries have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independence from British colonialists in 1947.
Pakistan’s ambassador in New Delhi has invited the Kashmiri separatist leaders to meet with Aziz before his meeting with his Indian counterpart on Monday.
Several other separatist leaders - Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Showkat Bakshi, Ghulam Rasool Eidi and Syed Ali Geelani - also plan to fly to New Delhi to meet with Aziz.
Farooq said Saturday that the separatist leaders always have supported talks between India and Pakistan. “It’s very sad that New Delhi is stubborn and hegemonic about our meeting with Sartaj Aziz,” he said. “This clearly shows that India is not serious at all about talks.”
On Thursday, several separatist leaders were held in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, but released hours later.
Kashmiri insurgents have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir’s independence or merger with Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, a charge Islamabad denies.
