Visiting Kashmiri separatist leaders began their political mission to Pakistan on Friday with some sharply critical words for the leadership in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir for 'romanticising militancy'.
Addressing a joint session of the two legislature Houses of, what Pakistan calls, Azad Kashmir was the high point of the first full day in PoK for the All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and six other leaders of the conglomerate as well as Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik.
Also see: Kashmir solution before 2007 -- Musharraf
They all crossed the Line-of-Control on Thursday to enter PoK from
Srinagar.
Support for the India-Pakistan peace process, demand for participation of Kashmiri representatives in the dialogue and an end to violence was the central theme of their speeches.
Malik said that a 'romantic aura' created by the PoK leadership about militancy had attracted very talented Kashmiri youth to the violent movement. He cited examples of a cement factory owner and a pilot, who were killed while fighting for jihadi forces.
Also see: Malik recalls his '88 PoK visitAs an embarrassed PoK prime minister Sikander Hayat Khan watched, one of his ministers sought permission to respond to Malik's comments, but was not allowed to speak.