NEW DELHI, Nov 23: Sharp differences dogging the resistance groups fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir came to the surface on Tuesday in a rare meeting they had with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz
, failing to unite ahead of his crucial talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday.
Pakistani officials said Mr Aziz was forced to meet the leaders in separate groups and individually, throwing his itinerary into confusion. He later managed to have all the Kashmiri representatives sitting with him at one table for dinner.
"I reminded the prime minister that thousands of Kashmiris had not given their lives to allow India and Pakistan to decide their future," JKLF chief Yasin Malik told Dawn after an unexpectedly long dinner with Mr Aziz that went past midnight. He had boycotted a meeting with President Gen Pervez Musharraf in July 2001.
Mr Malik said the prime minister assured him that the Kashmiri participation as the aggrieved party could not be overlooked in any talks with India. Maulvi Umar Farooq, the Mirwaiz of Kashmir, reiterated the demand of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to include the representatives of Kashmiri resistance in the talks with India.
He expressed the wish to be allowed to travel in the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus to Pakistan to pursue his objective of a trilateral dialogue. But his problem is that Syed Ali Shah Geelani of Jamaat-i-Islami is opposed to the bus service on ideological grounds, a problem area for Pakistani officials seeking to negotiate the terms of the road link with their Indian counterparts.
Mr Geelani was not available for comment, but sources close to him said he had opposed tooth and nail any merger with the APHC of which he is former chairman. Mr Geelani and the Mirwaiz, who held separate meetings with Mr Aziz, sat at the dinner table flanking the prime minister.
