Aziz-Kashmiri separatists meeting sparks a row

Sparking off a controversy, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's advisor Sartaj Aziz on Sunday night met leaders of various Kashmiri separatist groups of Hurriyat Conference which was seen by the government as "extremely unfortunate" misuse of a multilateral forum for partisan ends.

Aziz, who arrived here earlier in the day for a meeting of the foreign ministers of Asia and Europe, met the separatist groups separately at the Pakistan High Commission here.

Government sources described Aziz's meetings with the separatists as "extremely unfortunate misuse of a multilateral forum for partisan ends".

The meetings also drew sharp reaction from BJP which said government has committed a "diplomatic blunder" by allowing this.

Emerging from his hour-long meeting with Aziz, Mirwaiz said that the talks were aimed at finding a lasting political solution to the Kashmir issue, a key element for normalising ties between India and Pakistan.

"We want to see that the relations between the two countries are good and this would be possible only after the Kashmir issue is settled in accordance with the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," Mirwaiz said.