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NEW DELHI: A Kashmiri leader says police have detained a top Kashmiri separatist leader after he landed at New Delhi's airport ahead of talks between Indian and Pakistani security advisers.
Zameer Ahmed, the leader, said Shabir Ahmed Shah flew in from Indian Kashmir on Saturday for a meeting with Sartaj Aziz, National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was scheduled to arrive in the Indian capital on Sunday.
Know more: Pakistan invites separatists for meeting 'to irritate India': Indian analyst
Shah and two colleagues were driven away from the airport by the New Delhi police, said Ahmed, who is also detained by the police.
Shah heads the Democratic Freedom Party in the Indian portion of Kashmir. The group demands the right of self-determination for Kashmiri people.
India opposes Pakistani leaders meeting with Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi.
Read more: Pakistan's meeting with Hurriyat representatives not 'appropriate': India
The police in India-held Kashmir confirmed Shah's detention in New Delhi.
Several other separatist leaders ─ Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Showkat Bakshi, Ghulam Rasool Eidi and Syed Ali Geelani, also plan to fly to New Delhi to meet with Aziz.
Farooq said on Saturday that the separatist leaders always have supported talks between India and Pakistan. "It's very sad that New Delhi is stubborn and hegemonic about our meeting with Sartaj Aziz," he said. "This clearly shows that India is not serious at all about talks."
On Thursday, three Kashmiri separatist leaders were placed under house arrest but were later freed. In a statement, Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah clarified: "there is nothing unusual in such meetings and it has been normal practice for Pakistan to consult Hurriyat leaders prior to high level meeting with India".
Also read: Indo-Pak security adviser level talks in jeopardy
On Friday, India said that National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz — during his New Delhi visit to hold talks with Indian counterpart Ajit Doval — should not hold any meeting with All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) representatives, and termed any such a meeting as "not appropriate". The Indian 'advise' was categorically rejected by Pakistan.
