After a meeting of its executive committee at the Rajbagh headquarters, All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq told media persons, "The offer to attend a joint round table conference on Kashmir convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on February 25 was discussed by our executive committee, working committee and the general council. The offer was earlier discussed by the various constituents of the APHC at their party level. It has been unanimously decided that the APHC will not attend the proposed meeting."
Mirwaiz said his group had been the first to respond positively to the dialogue offer by the Indian leadership when the same had been strongly opposed by some other separatist groups in Kashmir.
"We had proposed that by the end of the second round of talks, concrete proposals must be put forward to resolve the Kashmir dispute and the Indian government must bring in material change in the ground situation so that the common man feels relief. Unfortunately, no such steps were taken by the government of India," Mirwaiz regretted.
He also said it was highly premature to hold a joint meet on Kashmir.
"When such a time really arrives, the round table conference must include representatives from both parts of Kashmir," he asserted.
