NEW DELHI: Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar Farooq, chairperson of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), along with other notable separatist Kashmiri leaders attended an Eid Milan hosted by Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit.

“We hope foreign secretaries of both countries will meet soon to start the dialogue process, and we would like to discuss all issues of importance between Pakistan and India,” said Abdul Basit while speaking at the occasion.

“Pakistan will continue to raise the issue of Kashmiri self-determination,” added Basit.

Earlier, separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who is chairperson of his own faction of APHC, had decided against attending the ‘Eid Milan’ in a surprise move.

Read: Hurriyat remains divided over Eid Milan invitation

Geelani had decided to boycott the invitation from the Pakistani High Commission, as he had attributed his decision to Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir, which he said appeared to be “wavering” and “inconsistent”.

Chairman of pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik had also decided to boycott the Eid Milan function.

The decision came after a marathon meeting between Yasin Malik and Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The Pakistani High Commission had earlier invited the resistance Kashmiri leadership for an Iftar party on July 4 but later cancelled it without any explanation.

Also read: Yasin Malik to boycott 'Eid Milan'

Reliable sources confirmed that the Pakistani High Commission decided to call off the Iftar party with an apparent aim of not to “annoy” India and help create a “conducive atmosphere” for the meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

Earlier in the month, the prime ministers of the two countries met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS summits, after which the foreign secretaries of both countries issued a joint statement. The statement cautiously avoided mentioning the Kashmir issue.