New Delhi, Feb 21 (UNI) Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri will meet Kashmiri separatists, including hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, here tomorrow in a series of meetings.
The Pakistan Foreign Minister, whose India itinerary was revised yesterday, was earlier scheduled to the hold discussions with the separatists on February 23.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq-led moderate Hurriyat delegation, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, and Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Patry's Shabir Ahmed Shah, besides Mr Geelani will call on Mr Kasuri.
Sources said Mr Kasuri, who is on an official three-day visit, will ask the warring secessionists to forge unity and present a united stand on Kashmir.
''If the separatists come together on one platform it will be easy for Pakistan to negotiate with India on Kashmir,'' they said.
Recently, the divide between the two factions of the Hurriyat deepened further with Mirwaiz Farooq supporting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's four-point Kashmir formula and Mr Geelani opposing it.
Pakistan has been making efforts for long to bring the separatists together in the ''larger interest of the Kashmir cause'' but it has failed time and again.
As part of the efforts, every senior Pakistani leader and official during their India visit has held talks with the separatists in New Delhi.
This will be the separatists' second meeting with a senior Pakistan functionary in the past three months in New Delhi after their November meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan, on the sidelines of the Indo-Pak foreign-secretary level dialogue.
The Mirwaiz, who is leading a delegation comprising Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Lone and Aga Syed Hassan at the meeting, said the latest developments in Kashmir, the progress on Gen Musharraf's peace formula and an intra-Kashmir dialogue among political parties from across the Line of Control will be discussed.
''The Samjhauta Express blasts, which are highly condemnable, will also be raised at the meeting,'' he added.
In January, the Mirwaiz, accompanied by Mr Lone and senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Bhat, visited Pakistan for ten days for talks with the leadership of that country on Kashmir and the President's formula comprising no change in boundaries of Kashmir, making borders and LoC irrelevant, demilitarisation and self-governance.
Mr Geelani said he will present his stated position in the talks.
The pro-Pakistan leader has been demanding plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, as part of the UN resolution on the vexed issue, and allow the ''people to decide their fate''.
Mr Shah and Mr Malik are expected to raise the inclusion of the Kashmiri people in the peace talks.
UNI
The Pakistan Foreign Minister, whose India itinerary was revised yesterday, was earlier scheduled to the hold discussions with the separatists on February 23.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq-led moderate Hurriyat delegation, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, and Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Patry's Shabir Ahmed Shah, besides Mr Geelani will call on Mr Kasuri.
Sources said Mr Kasuri, who is on an official three-day visit, will ask the warring secessionists to forge unity and present a united stand on Kashmir.
''If the separatists come together on one platform it will be easy for Pakistan to negotiate with India on Kashmir,'' they said.
Recently, the divide between the two factions of the Hurriyat deepened further with Mirwaiz Farooq supporting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's four-point Kashmir formula and Mr Geelani opposing it.
Pakistan has been making efforts for long to bring the separatists together in the ''larger interest of the Kashmir cause'' but it has failed time and again.
As part of the efforts, every senior Pakistani leader and official during their India visit has held talks with the separatists in New Delhi.
This will be the separatists' second meeting with a senior Pakistan functionary in the past three months in New Delhi after their November meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan, on the sidelines of the Indo-Pak foreign-secretary level dialogue.
The Mirwaiz, who is leading a delegation comprising Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Lone and Aga Syed Hassan at the meeting, said the latest developments in Kashmir, the progress on Gen Musharraf's peace formula and an intra-Kashmir dialogue among political parties from across the Line of Control will be discussed.
''The Samjhauta Express blasts, which are highly condemnable, will also be raised at the meeting,'' he added.
In January, the Mirwaiz, accompanied by Mr Lone and senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Bhat, visited Pakistan for ten days for talks with the leadership of that country on Kashmir and the President's formula comprising no change in boundaries of Kashmir, making borders and LoC irrelevant, demilitarisation and self-governance.
Mr Geelani said he will present his stated position in the talks.
The pro-Pakistan leader has been demanding plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, as part of the UN resolution on the vexed issue, and allow the ''people to decide their fate''.
Mr Shah and Mr Malik are expected to raise the inclusion of the Kashmiri people in the peace talks.
UNI
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