SRINAGAR, March 8: A hardline Kashmiri leader said on Wednesday he had been refused permission by India to travel to Pakistan for a three-day international conference on the region.

The refusal to grant Syed Ali Geelani a passport comes as India and Pakistan are engaged in a slow-moving peace process to settle their dispute over Kashmir.

“I was willing to attend the meeting but I have been refused a passport by India,” said Mr Geelani, who heads the hardline faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

There was no immediate comment available from the passport office in Srinagar.

Moderate Kashmiri leaders, who renounce violence, including Yasin Malik of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, were granted permission to travel and are now in Pakistan to attend the Pugwash Conference on Kashmir.

The Pugwash conferences assemble scholars and public figures from around the world annually to discuss ways to reduce the danger of armed conflicts and their solutions.

Mr Geelani has boycotted peace talks last year between moderate Kashmiri leaders and leaders from India and Pakistan. —AFP