Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Monday held a consultative meeting with Kashmiri separatist leader and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik before heading to New Delhi for talks with her Indian counterpart.
Foreign Office sources said the FM invited JKLF leaders for the meeting prior to her departure for the Pak-India ministerial-level dialogue to be held on July 27 in New Delhi.
They said the meeting was attended by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and JKLF leaders Muhammad Rafique Dar and Saleem Haroon. Hina later met Malik fro a one-to-one meeting.
The sources said the meeting was arranged with an intention to get the Kashmiri leaders’ nod and get proposals on certain issues, including cross-LoC trade, additional tradable items, frequent bus service and the revival of Kashmiri families’ meetings through an increase in the frequency of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.
They said the meeting had been successful in terms of getting viable proposals and Kashmiri leaders’ consent for peace talks, as the JKLF leaders not only expressed satisfaction but also gave positive suggestions for the talks. During the meeting, the foreign minister said Pak-India dialogue on Kashmir should not be for the sake of dialogue, but should yield constructive results, adding that Pakistan believed in the resolution of Kashmir issue per the wishes of the Kashmiris, in accordance with the UN resolutions on Kashmir. Hina said real Kashmiri leaders should be part of the dialogue process on the issue, adding that the concerns expressed by the Kashmiri leadership would be raised during the meeting with her Indian counterpart SM Krishna.
She said the Kashmir movement was a true movement of the Kashmiri society and Pakistan fully supported the movement.
Hina said the government and the JKLF leadership were on the same page on the Kashmir dispute.
The minister said the concept of tripartite meeting on Kashmir was based on the suggestions by Kashmiri leaders that no dialogue could produce results without the inclusion of genuine Kashmiri leaders in the process.
Yasin Malik approved of the dialogue process on Kashmir between Pakistan and India, saying Kashmiris had concerns over the dialogue due to their non-inclusion in the process. He said India must announce time-bound dialogues in order to make the dialogue process credible and acceptable to the Kashmiri people.
He demanded a time-bound dialogue process, participation of the Kashmiri leadership in the dialogue process and recognition of the independence movement by India after the Kashmiris unilaterally showed transition from a violent freedom movement to a non-violent movement.
Yasin Malik admired the CBMs initiatives between Pakistan and India, adding that the had created a healthy atmosphere in the region.
