Pakistan asks Hurriyat leaders to avoid talks with India: report

New Delhi, Jan 28: Pakistan has reportedly told the Hurriyat Conference leaders not to start any direct negotiations with India for at least another year, says a media report. The Hurriyat leaders led by their chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq have returned from Pakistan with this "advice", after they had detailed discussions with Pakistani Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and spy agency ISI's director general Lt Gen Zahir-ul Islam during their visit in December. The seven-member Hurriyat delegation broached the four-point formula floated by former dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf to resolve the Kashmir issue, but neither Gen Kayai nor Lt Gen Zahir-ul Islam should any enthusiasm towards this formula. There was no indication of how the Pakistani army generals intend to proceed on the Kashmir issue, a source close to the Hurriyat leaders said. They however rejected outright a suggestion to begin talks with New Delhi within a domestic framework. The delegation also met LeT's Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen's Syed Salahuddin, both wanted for terror attacks in India. Saeed is said to have made it clear that use of violence was the only way to resolve the Kashmir issue. However, sources said, they too gave the impression of "lying low" this year. In contrast, the meetings with Pakistan's political parties were far more positive. Parties across the board impressed on the separatists that dialogue was the only way forward, indicating that Hurriyat too should invest in the effort. PML(N) leader and former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif told them that he had laid an excellent foundation for this through the Lahore Declaration with former PM Vajpayee in February 1999, but the Army under Gen Musharraf had sabotaged it by staging the Kargil attack. The most accommodating was cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan. He is believed to have told the delegation that they could frame their demands and give it to him, which he promised to reflect verbatim in his manifesto. In other words, he told the separatist leaders that their formulation would be his party's position. But the larger message was not lost on the Hurriyat leaders: no direct channel with the Indian government for, at least, a year. This, insiders said, has also got New Delhi thinking that there is more than what meets the eye in this election year for Pakistan. Kayani, it may be noted, also finishes his term in September this year.