M A I N   N E W S

APHC’s tete-a-tete with Pak scribes
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 13
In a bid to cultivate the opinion of Pakistani people, Hurriyat Conference leaders today held a closed-door press meet exclusively for visiting Pakistani mediapersons who have descended in the capital to cover the historic summit.

The more than one hour meet, convened at the plush Maurya Sheraton Hotel, was made out of bounds for Indian mediapersons who reached there on hearing about the press conference.

Confronted by the Indian media after the meeting, Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq maintained that it had been organised at the request of the Pakistani mediapersons.

Talking to Indian mediapersons, he said the Hurriyat leaders had been given time for one-to-one talks with General Musharraf before the reception at Pakistan House, which would give them enough opportunity to present their viewpoint on Kashmir to Islamabad.

On the summit, he said the Hurriyat Conference was not insisting on its participation in the Indo-Pakistan summit but was for “evolving a mechanism” to include Kashmiris when their issue was finally addressed by both countries.

More than 50 Pakistani scribes were present at the meeting. “We told them that the Hurriyat does not want to become a spoiler of the peace process.”

“Though we are not a part of the summit, we have stressed the need for evolving a mechanism to resolve the 53-year-old issue,” the Mirwaiz said.

The Hurriyat reiterated its stand that bilateralism was no solution to the issue. “We told them that the Kashmiris have to be included at some stage in the talks as bilateral talks between India and Pakistan have always failed.”

The conglomerate said plebiscite should be held in Jammu and Kashmir. The APHC Chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat said a tripartite dialogue could be helpful in resolving the issue.