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Hurriyat a dilemma for Musharraf

Islamabad, July 5
The Musharraf government says it is walking on a tightrope before the Agra summit, as it has to balance its act for not annoying New Delhi on insisting to meet Hurriyat leaders and not bowing to its hosts, which in turn could annoy the APHC.

“Yes indeed, you could say it is a sensitive issue but a final decision will have to be made when President Pervez Musharraf’s official itinerary is announced from Islamabad. It will be clear then. So far New Delhi has made it crystal clear that they would not like to see either a formal or informal meeting between the President and the APHC leaders”, a senior official told The News.

However, Additional Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan, told The News: “For sending any invitation to anyone, we do not need any clearance from anyone. But the point is, so far no invitation has been sent to anyone. Till the programme is announced we cannot say who has been invited. We will welcome any opportunity to meet the APHC leaders and we have even invited them to come to Pakistan.” So far the meeting or lack of it is the only public controversial part of the Agra summit that the government has acknowledged.

“While Pakistan needs to show flexibility on the issue of the APHC, it must also take care not to alienate the APHC by refusing to meet them prior to the start of the summit. India’s conditionalities regarding the APHC will only allow it to exploit the situation by giving out that Pakistan, by not meeting the APHC in New Delhi, has accepted the Indian position that the APHC factor is an internal issue of the Indian State,” the Director General of a government think-tank, is said to have told President Musharraf. ANI