Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Geelani, chiefs of the two factions of Jammu and Kashmir’s separatist Hurriyat Conference, will meet Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Tuesday, a day before talks with her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna.

The Mirwaiz and Geelani would lead their two-member delegations for the talks with Khar at the Pakistan High Commission here.

The two separatist leaders, who fell apart in 2003 when the Mirwaiz entered into negotiations with New Delhi, will meet the Pakistani minister separately to apprise her about the latest situation in the troubled Jammu and Kashmir.

The Mirwaiz told IANS that in his talks with Khar he would press for inclusion of Kashmiris in the India-Pakistan talks to solve the over 60-year-old Kashmir dispute.

“They cannot solve the issue without participation of Kashmiri leadership in the negotiations,” he said.

Geelani, known for his pro-Pakistani stance and his staunch opposition to any talks with the government of India, would also press for the same demand, said his spokesperson Ayaz Akbar.

“No solution is acceptable even if India and Pakistan agree on anything. Jammu and Kashmir is not a border dispute. It’s for people (of the state) to decide their fate,” Akbar said.

The Hurriyat leaders flew in from Srinagar Tuesday morning.

Chairman of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik, who was also invited, has decided to skip the talks with Khar in Delhi due to his Pakistan visit.

Malik met the Pakistan foreign minister in Islamabad Monday.