By IRNA,
Srinagar : New Delhi’s interlocutors for Kashmir issued a fresh invitation to pro-independence groups for talks, asking them to name the time and place for the meeting, or convey their stance to the panel in writing if they were reluctant to come face-to-face.
According to reports available to IRNA, the invitations were learnt to have been sent by email to heads of two factions of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani besides Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Muhammad Yasin Malik and Peoples Conference head Sajjad Ghani Lone.
Having recently announced to come out with a roadmap on Kashmir by the end of February, the interlocutors have conveyed that the separatists were the only group left out so far in the panel’s interactions, and that their inputs were essential to make headway on the issue.
‘The separatist have a definite role, and we want to include them in any headway in resolving the Kashmir issue,’ the panel has said.
The interlocutors have also given the separatist leaders the choice to be accompanied by five to six member delegations if and when the latter accept the invitation.
The panel has also offered to entertain the separatists’ stand in writing, asking them to send their views in the form of documents in case they did not favour a direct meeting with the interlocutors.
So far, the pro-freedom camp in Kashmir has given the interlocutors a wide berth, having questioned their relevance right from the outset, but the Hurriyat (G) said that it would respond to the latest invitation after discussing it in its highest decision making body following the return of its chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, from New Delhi on February 22.