Congress leader Manish Tewari on Tuesday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party government for its 'U-turn' on the meeting between Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit.
"Yesterday the government says that the Foreign Secretary talks will not be held because the Pakistani High Commissioner meets the Hurriyat leadership. Today the BJP does a complete U-turn, it says that they have no objection to the Pakistan High Commissioner hosting Syed Geelani, and the Foreign Secretary level talks will go on," Tewari told ANI.
He further questioned the government's approach to the recent happenings in Jammu and Kashmir.
"J-K Chief Minister is hell bent on releasing terrorist after terrorist, hardcore terrorists who have been convicted of the heinous crimes against the Indian state. The Prime Minister and the Home Minister feign complete ignorance, so it raises a fundamental question, who is running India's Kashmir policy," Tewari added
Earlier on Monday, Geelani held a 45-minute dialogue with Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit where they discussed issues pertaining to Kashmir.
The meeting came two days after separatist leader Masrat Alam was released by the Jammu and Kashmir government.
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BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao later said that the meeting between the two has no bearing on Indo-Pak relations.
In August 2014, a meeting between Basit and Geelani on the eve of talks between the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan had enraged the government, leading to the cancellation of Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan.