NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR, 14 April 2005 — Responding to a request by the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has agreed to meet its leaders today or tomorrow, but the separatist conglomerate prefers to meet him after April 17 when they are scheduled to hold talks with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.
The Hurriyat leaders, who had earlier agreed to meet Manmohan on either of the dates proposed by the Center, have now conveyed that they would prefer to meet the prime minister after April 17, sources said.
“The decision of the Prime Minister meeting the Hurriyat leaders on April 14 or 15 was taken before he went to Kashmir on April 7 to flag-off the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service,” sources said. The decision was conveyed to the Hurriyat faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and they had agreed to meet Singh on either of these days, they said.
However, Farooq yesterday said he would not be able to come to Delhi before April 16 as he has to attend a religious ceremony back home. Umar added that Hurriyat leaders would prefer to meet the premier after April 17.
Government officials said that after the Hurriyat leaders expressed their inability to meet Manmohan on the days conveyed to them, new dates have to be decided depending on the prime minister’s availability.
Meanwhile, separatist rebels in Kashmir renewed their threat yesterday against people who plan to ride a cross-Kashmir bus to the Pakistan side of the divided Himalayan region. “Those people who are planning to ride on the second Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus should stand warned and not put themselves in danger,” said a statement signed by four rebel groups.
The bus service connecting the two parts of Kashmir controlled by India and Pakistan was launched last week and is seen as a key confidence-building step by the South Asian rivals. The second trip of the fortnightly bus service is scheduled for April 21. In another development, troops shot dead four militants, while seven soldiers and a woman were injured during three clashes in Kashmir yesterday.
