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JKLF to boycott Musharraf-Hurriyat meet

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front has decided to boycott the tea party being hosted by the Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi for the visiting Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf on July 14.

In a statement issued in Srinagar after an internal JKLF meeting presided over by the acting chairman Bashir Ahmad Bhat, the JKLF ridiculed the leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference for their decision to attend the party.

Expressing its serious concern the front said, "Despite all the efforts Kashmiris have not been included in the Agra Summit."

The JKLF said, "Kashmir issue cannot be resolved through bilateral talks. It can only be resolved through a trilateral dialogue involving all the three parties - India, Pakistan and people of Kashmir."

"For the past 52 years both India and Pakistan have met on several occasions and Kashmiris were never involved in the negotiations," the JKLF said.

"Kashmiris are not giving sacrifices for autonomy or division of Kashmir. We are giving sacrifices for complete freedom of Kashmir," the statement added.

Meanwhile, the firebrand Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani confirmed having received the invitation to join the tea party on Saturday.

Talking to rediff.com Geelani said, "I will be visiting Delhi along with other Hurriyat leaders to join the party."

He said, "The summit will not yield much. India is saying that Kashmir is an integral part and as such I feel there won't be any headway. Indian government should first admit that Kashmir is a disputed territory and then only will things move in forward direction."

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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