Geneva/New Delhi: Moderate Hurriyat
Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq may have had a secret
meeting with the head of Pakistan intelligence agency ISI Lt
Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha in Europe, although he denies that.
The Mirwaiz had gone to Brussels to attend a conference
on Kashmir on May three and four and returned to Delhi on May
nine. A number of prominent Pakistani politicians and
Kashmiris from Europe and the US supporting the separatist
cause attended the conference.
Sources in Geneva said that the Mirwaiz had travelled
there from Brussels after the conference and reportedly met
Pasha, who had during that period left Pakistan for a
mysterious destination after US operation in Abbottabad that
led to the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Pakistani media had reported that Pasha who had come
under severe criticism for ISI being caught napping by the
Americans, had gone to the US on May six but later it was
stated that he had gone to some undisclosed country.
Asked about the reports of his meeting with Pasha,
Mirwaiz denied even having gone to the Swiss city of Geneva
and said, "I did not meet any ISI official during my trip to
Europe. I met the political leadership from Pakistan who had
come to attend the (Kashmir) conference (in Brussels). I met
leaders from Pakistan People`s Party (PPP), PML-N and Maulana
Fazlur Rehman."
The Mirwaiz today held a small rally in North Kashmir`s
Kupwara area where he said the Hurriyat was ready for a
peaceful and negotiated settlement of Kashmir issue but the
Centre has to exhibit seriousness by engaging the popular
sentiment in the state at a political level.
"The experiment of Interlocutors has been a total
failure. If Government is serious and sincere in finding a
solution to Kashmir issue, they have to engage with the
sentiment and aspirations of people at a political level," the
Mirwaiz said.
The moderate faction of Hurriyat had organized a rally
at Trehgam in Kupwara to pay tribute to slain separatist
leaders Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone who were
killed by militants in 1990 and 2002 respectively.
The Mirwaiz said Hurriyat wanted a peaceful solution to
Kashmir issue through a dialogue between India, Pakistan and
Kashmiri leadership and was willing to discuss various
alternatives put forth so far.
PTI
