Ahead of the visit of interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma to the Valley, hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Sunday said its leaders will not meet the Centre's special representative for Kashmir.
The Hurriyat Conference claimed that an official of the state government had approached them for facilitating a meeting of Geelani with Sharma but the outfit rejected the proposal.
"A state representative, on the intervening night of November 4 and 5, expressed desire to meet the Hurriyat chairman to facilitate his meeting with the designate interlocutor," a Hurriyat spokesman said here.
He said that according to Hurriyat "forced negotiations" have no political or moral justifications.
"We reject the dialogue offer...It is mere rhetoric and wastage of time and no section of Hurriyat or group will meet designate interlocutor or participate in this futile exercise," the spokesman said.
The statement came only a day after Geelani had said that the dialogue was the only option to resolve the Kashmir issue and separatists were not against it. He had, however, alleged that the Centre "is not sincere about resolving the Kashmir issue".
"We are not against the dialogue process, but we favour only meaningful and result-oriented negotiations. We have a clear agenda and our viewpoint is unambiguous ... that the issue can be resolved through dialogue," he said in a statement on Saturday.
He said the onus lies with the central government to "illustrate its seriousness and sincerity" to resolve the issue.
Geelani said a conducive atmosphere for negotiations is of "prime necessity".
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