Separatists set for talks with Kasuri in New Delhi

Kashmiri separatists will be arriving later this week for what will be the second round of talks with Pakistan in Delhi, this time with Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri who will be visiting to review the peace dialogue with External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh.

The first round of dialogue after the Congress led-government came to power was with visiting Foriegn Secretary Riaz Khokhar after which hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani returned to Kashmir to float his parallel Tehreek -i -Hurriyat that is widely perceived in the Valley as having the full support of Pakistan.

Invitations have already been sent out by the Pakistan High Commission with All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairperson Maulvi Abbas Ansari confirming that the conglomeration is on the list.

Differences

He said it was still to be decided who will participate in the talks, although indications are that Mirwaiz Maulvi Omar Farooq, Geelani, Yasin Malek and Shabir Shah will be meeting Kasuri.

The effort of the exercise, sources said, would be to persuade the Kashmiri separatists to unite under one banner although at present the differences between them appear too deep and irreconciliable.

Even those who left the Hurriyat like Yasin Malek, are not willing to join Geelani or accept his leadership.

Kasuri himself will be arriving here on September 3, a day before the foreign secretaries are scheduled to meet for a quick review preceding the foreign ministers meeting.

His packed five-day agenda, apart from the two-day meeting with Natwar Singh, also includes a visit to Ajmer.

The minister will leave for Islamabad on September 8. The cabinet committee on security has met to finalise the sum and substance of the Indian position with Natwar Singh expected to keep the door open for the dialogue, reiterate old positions on Kashmir, and prepare for the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, probably on September 22.

Delhi has made matters difficult for itself by virtually closing the doors for talks with the Kashmiri separatists. Ansari said he had lost all hope. "The Congress party has created the problem of Kashmir and today it is completely vitiating the atmosphere and spoiling all that had been achieved," he said.

©The Asian Age