Jammu, June 1
All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders and other Kashmiri separatists, who are scheduled to travel to Muzaffarabad on Thursday, have decided to visit Islamabad for interaction with Pakistani leaders, including Gen Pervez Musharraf, as part of their political mission for finding out a solution to the Kashmir issue.

Two APHC leaders, Molvi Abbas Ansari and Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, told this correspondent today “since we feel that our political mission will be incomplete if we do not travel to Islamabad we have decided to visit Pakistan also.”

Official sources said since the Pakistan government was keen to have the Kashmiri separatists in Islamabad, a word had been sent to the Hurriyat leaders and others that they should apply for the Indian passport so that visa for visiting Pakistan could be issued to them in Muzaffarabad.

Except for Mr Shabir Ahmed Shah, president, Democratic Freedom Party, others have, while filling the passport form, inserted “Indian” in the column of Nationality. Mr Shah has written “Kashmiri” in the column.

Mr Shah told me that he had not changed his stance because he was of the firm opinion that till a final resolution of the Kashmir issue he considered himself simply a Kashmiri.

Molvi Ansari said they would meet political leaders of different hues in Muzaffarbad and later interact with ruling and opposition leaders in Pakistan, including those from Sindh, Baluchistan, North West frontier.

He and Professor Bhat indicated that various solutions to the Kashmir issue would be discussed after “we are able to understand what people and leaders in Azad Kashmir want.”

Molvi Ansari said, “We would explore whether limited independence for the two parts of the divided state could be a solution to the problem because this arrangement was likely to liberate the two sides from accession to India and Pakistan.”

He did not believe that grant of greater autonomy could be viable solution. He said, “We have greater autonomy between 1947 and 1952 but the basic Kashmir dispute remained alive.”

The APHC leader said, “On our return we wish to have a dialogue with the Central Government leaders where we could exchange views on our feedback from Muzaffarabad and Islamabad.”

Mr Shah said, “If we travel to Muzaffarabad it will strengthen the peace process. It will also mean that representatives of people of Kashmir were being involved in the composite dialogue having been initiated by Delhi and Islamabad.”

In reply to a question he said, “Nothing can be said about the success of our mission at this stage.”