Talks in limbo, Pakistan flirts with Jammu & Kashmir separatists

NEW DELHI: Amid uncertainty over the foreign secretary evel talks, Pakistan has sought to keep the Kashmir pot boiling by insisting that the dispute will top its agenda for the dialogue with India.

Pakistan's envoy to India Abdul Basit followed up Islamabad's recent assertions on J&K with a meeting with Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Tuesday . Basit assured him that Pakistan would continue to extend moral, political and diplomatic support “to the people of J&K and their legitimate right to self-determination“.

Basit also expressed hope that the J&K dispute would be settled between Pakistan and India through dialogue in accordance with the aspiration of the people of the state, Pakistani sources said.

Basit had expressed the same sentiment before moderate Hurriyat member Mirwaiz Umar Farooq when he met him at the high commission on Monday evening.Farooq said after the meeting that Basit had also assured him that the Gilgit-Baltistan region would continue to be a part of the state.

Geelani's spokesman Ayaz Akbar too quoted Basit as having said no decision would be taken on the status of Gilgit-Baltistan that may impact the disputed status of J&K. Basit visited Geelani's residence in Delhi to enquire about his health, Pakistani officials said. Geelani lew to New Delhi on Saturday for a medical check-up.

Geelani is said to have thanked Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif for his “unflinching“ support for people of the state. “He also told the high commissioner that India had late y stepped up operations aga nst Kashmiris and was try ng to suppress their voice,“ a Pakistani source said.

The NDA regime in 2014 called off foreign secretary talks because of Basit's meeting with Hurriyat functionaries days before the dialogue.Islamabad, though, has continued to maintain that there is no change in its policy on Hurriyat and that it still regards the group as the real representative of J&K.

During the one-and-a-half hour meet between Basit and Geelani, the Hurriyat chief pointed out his reservations over the dialogue. “India is not sincere in talks and resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Talks are a timepass for India. Had India been sincere, it would have accepted Kashmir as a dispute and would not call it an integral part,“ Akbar quoted Geelani as ha ving told Basit. “Geelani sahab told Basit that holding dialogue takes off the attention of the atrocities committed by Indian forces on Kashmiris. Make Kashmir dispute core agenda of any dialogue with India,“ Akbar said.