ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and co-chairman of Pakistan People’s Party, Asif Ali Zardari, yesterday assured complete support to the leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) here.

The APHC delegation leaders including Mir Waiz Omar Farooq, Abdul Ghani Bhatt and others held meetings with Gilani and Zardari here yesterday.

Zardari, who met the APHC leaders at the Parliamentary Lodges, told reporters, “our relationship with Kashmiris is based on Islam, and we will continue to render our moral, diplomatic and political support to their just rights.”

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi stated Sunday, “we will definitely have the input of Kashmiri leadership before next foreign ministerial-level talks with India.”

Talking to reporters at Benazir Bhutto airport Sunday, he said, “we have invited the leadership of All Parties Hurriyat Conference so that we will have consultations with them and ascertain their views on the crucial issue.” Qureshi will also meet other Kashmiri leaders in New Delhi before the start of the talks with his Indian counterpart later this month.

Meanwhile, Indian police in Kashmir’s main city fired tear gas and used batons yesterday to disperse hundreds of Muslim demonstrators protesting against a government decision to transfer forestland to a Hindu shrine trust.

Authorities last week said nearly 100 acres of forestland in Kashmir was being transferred to Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) to erect temporary structures for thousands of pilgrims who annually trek to a cave shrine deep in the Himalayas.

Police detained at least 50 protesters from different parts of Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital, witnesses said. The protest was called by Kashmiri separatists who also say the fragile ecology of the mountainous region will be ruined by building “permanent” structures at base camps of the pilgrimage.

At least 10 people, including nine separatist militants, were killed in clashes between security forces and insurgents at the weekend in Indian Kashmir, police said.

Soldiers shot dead five suspected militants late on Saturday when they tried to cross the border into India. Four militants and a soldier were killed on Sunday in another gunbattle.

“The initial investigation has shown that the militants belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba,” S.M. Sahai, a senior police officer said in Srinagar. Lashkar-e-Toiba is a Pakistan-based militant group.