While Farooq and Malik refused to speak to the delegation when it visited them in jail, Geelani, who is under house arrest, did not even open his door to the visiting leaders.
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All Parties Hurriyat Conference led by ailing Syed Ali Geelani on Monday said that they were never “officially” invited for talks by government of India.
“Once again cautioning the people in the power corridors of India”, the statement quoting the Hurriyat Conference as having said, “despite ruthless force and unparalleled atrocities, you couldn’t weaken the Azadi sentiment of Kashmiris for 70 long years and you cannot be able to do so in future as well”.
“I hope that whenever any discussion on Jammu and Kashmir takes place in Parliament, we will get full cooperation from them”, he said.
Rajnath Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Kashmir after returning from his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. Whatever happened you know about it. “They had gone there in their individual capacity”, he told reporters here before flying to Jammu. The Union minister said on Monday that “what the separatists did was neither Kashmiriyat, insaniyat (humanity) and they don’t even believe in jamhooriyat (democracy)”.
Nowshera’s BJP legislator Reminder Raina lambasted the delegation for seeking to meet separatists in Srinagar, saying hardline Hurriyat leaders were “touts of Pakistan”.
Singh claimed that their response does not reflect “Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat and Jamhuriyat”. “But what they did proves they have no faith in democracy”, as per IANS.
He said that the Centre is providing all kinds of support to the state government to improve the situation.
Earlier in the day, before reaching Jammu, the delegation met various delegations including political parties and civil society organisations in Srinagar.
He said he was aware that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had written letters to separatist leaders inviting them for talks with the delegation.
Singh said he will “try to visit Ladakh”, saying the view of its people, too, merited listening.
The Minister said during his previous visit last month, concerns had been raised over the use of pellet guns and regarding this, non-lethal PAVA shells have been recommended as a replacement.
The Minister said to address concerns of Kashmiri youths living in different parts of the country the Ministry has appointed Dr Sanjay Rai as nodal officer who can be approached on phone number 011-23092923, 23092885.
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The all-party delegation arrived here on Sunday, almost two months after a bloody unrest erupted in the aftermath of the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen “commander” Burhan Wani.
