Pak Foreign Secy meets Geelani ahead of dialogue

Fire-brand Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Wednesday asked Pakistan to make Kashmir issue the core of dialogue with India rather than harp on water-sharing and other issues.

Ahead of the resumption of Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan tomorrow, visiting Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir met Geelani for 90 minutes.

Emerging from the meeting, Geelani, who has been quite vocal against the policies of Pakistan vis-a-vis Kashmir, said he had asked the visiting delegation from Islamabad to concentrate only on Kashmir issue during their discussion with India on Thursday.

Geelani said he told the Pakistan Foreign Secretary that Islamabad "should not run away from its responsibilities of providing moral, diplomatic and political support to Kashmir issue".

The Jamaat-e-Islami leader said terrorism or water-sharing issues between India and Pakistan were "peripheral" issues.

Bashir later met a delegation of moderate Hurriyat leaders led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and comprising Moulana Abbas Ansari, Abdul Gani Bhat, Aga Syed Hassan Al-Mousvi Al-Safvi and Bilal Lone.

Bashir said Kashmir is an international issue and Pakistan has a principled stand to resolve this issue under the UN resolutions and aspirations of Kashmiris.

Pakistan will raise this issue at Thursday's talks with India as a core issue, he said.

During the meetings, the Kashmiri leaders asked Pakistan to play a role in resolving the Kashmir issue. Talking to newsmen after the talks Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said he was happy the Pakistan Foreign Secretary would raise Kashmir issue during talks as a "core issue".

He said he informed Bashir that "dialogue with India would be meaningless if Kashmir issue is not discussed".

He said Kashmir issue be resolved according to the UN resolutions and aspirations of Kashmiris.

Mirwaiz said he was happy that dialogue process has been started again between both the countries.