| Pakistan today unrolled the red carpet for the moderate leaders of fractured Hurriyat Conference when they crossed over here from Srinagar on a visit that would enable them to interact with various leaders of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir before heading for Islamabad for talks with President Pervez Musharraf.
|
| |
| Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the conglomerate came with six others of his faction of the Hurriyat as did JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik and a representative of Shabir Shah’s JK Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP).
|
| |
| In all nine separatist leaders stepped into POK while the hardiners led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani chose to turn down the Pakistan government’s invitation.
|
| |
| Pakistan government lived up to its promise of according a warm welcome to the group although the absence of Geelani was a dampener.
|
| |
| POK ‘Prime Minister’ Sikandar Hayat was at hand as was the Pakistani army band to welcome the leaders when they crossed the Aman Setu (peace bridge) linking the two parts of Kashmir.
|
| |
| Besides, Mirwaiz and Malik, others to cross over included Abdul Gani Bhat, Moulvi Abbas Ansari, Fazal-ul Haq Qureshi, G M Bhat and Mohd Abdullah Tari of JK Democratic Freedom Party of Shabir Shah.
|
| |
| Interestingly, while the Hurriyat leaders crossed the bridge together, Malik and Tari, walked a little behind reflecting their separate identity. The historic cross over was described by the Mirwaiz as a “big step” in the peace process and could form the basis for a “triangular dialogue” between India, Pakistan and the Hurriyat Conference.
|
| |
| Lone said the delegation had “no high hopes” from the visit as the Kashmir issue was old and complex. “But this is the first step” towards resolution of the problem, he said.
|
| |
| Qureshi hoped everything would go well with the visit and it will bear positive results. Tari said he saw the visit with hope. Advocating continuation of peace process, he favoured increase in exchanges across the Line of Control.
|
| |
| He said the leader of his party Shabir Shah had wanted to take an all-religion delegation to POK but the plan could not take off. Malik, who was in the first batch of militants to cross the LoC into POK 17 years ago to get training and launch a militant movement in Jammu and Kashmir, recalled that he had sneaked through the frontier eight times.
|
| |
| Earlier, the separatist leaders left Srinagar in a convoy of private vehicles in a procession accompanied by supporters and boarded the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus at Salamabad, about 18 kms from the LoC, to reach the Kaman post, the last point on Indian side.
|
| |
| The route was opened for running of bus service on April 7 as part of confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan. |
| |
|
| |
Content Guide
