ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: Islamabad on Friday expressed the hope that the meeting of APHC leaders with the Indian leadership next week would strengthen the ongoing Indo-Pakistan peace process.

The meeting is scheduled for September 5 in New Delhi. Notably this will be APHC’s first meeting with the Congress-led UPA government.

Welcoming the invitation extended by the Indian government to APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other Kashmiri leaders for talks, a Foreign Office spokesman said: “The government of Pakistan has always been of the view that the Kashmiri leadership should be associated with the dialogue process between Pakistan and India for final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.”

In a statement issued here on Friday, the spokesman pointed out that the Hurriyat leadership’s meeting with the Indian prime minister would be continuation of the process initiated by the visit of Kashmiri leaders to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan in June this year.

The meeting acquires special significance as it will take place just 10 days ahead of Musharraf-Manmohan summit in New York where Kashmir will top the agenda.—Q.A.