Hurriyat to meet Musharraf first

The Hurriyat Conference leadership got the gift it has been seeking from the Centre for several months as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to meet its leaders tomorrow or on Friday, but the separatist conglomerate has begun dilly-dallying on dates.

The Hurriyat had earlier agreed to meet Singh on either of the dates proposed by the Centre. But now they had conveyed to the Centre that they would prefer to meet the Prime Minister after April 17, when they were scheduled to hold talks with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, sources said.

The Hurriyat change of mind comes after their apparent consultations with the Pakistan establishment. "The decision of the Prime Minister on meeting the Hurriyat leaders on April 14 or 15 April was taken before he went to Kashmir on April 7 to flag off the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service," sources said.

The decision was conveyed to the Hurriyat faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and it had agreed to meet Singh on either of those days, sources said.

But Farooq yesterday said he would not be able to come to Delhi before April 16 as he had to attend a religious ceremony back home, an argument seen as a pretext to put off their meeting with Singh till after their interface with Musharraf.

Government officials said after the Hurriyat leaders expressed their inability to meet Singh on the days conveyed to them, new dates had to be decided depending on the Prime Minister's availability.

The Hurriyat had adopted a similar approach at the time of Indo-Pak Agra summit in 2001.

Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had given them time to meet before the summit but the separatist conglomerate had expressed desire to meet Musharraf first. As a result no meeting could take place.

The Mirwaiz had said the Hurriyat wanted to meet the leaders of India and Pakistan and while Musharraf had given them time on April 17, there was "no response" from the PMO.

Minister's Office as yet".

He was speaking after meetings of Hurriyat's executive committee and general council.

He said the amalgam wanted to avail the opportunity to impress upon the two countries that a "permanent, honourable and just" solution to Kashmir issue was not possible without the inclusion of representatives of Kashmiris in the dialogue process.

Significantly, the People's Conference leader Bilal Gani Lone was absent from the meeting.