Mirwaiz Hurriyat rejects PM's invite to attend round-table

Srinagar, May 22 (UNI) In a major setback to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's bold initiative, the moderate Hurriyat Conference today rejected the invitation to participate in the second round-table conference here on May 24-25, saying it did not want to join ''a crowd of political hypocrites''.

Announcing the decision at a news conference, moderate Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the amalgam has unanimously decided not to attend the round-table as it had no agenda.

The decision was taken after a three-hour marathon meeting of the Hurriyat Executive Council, the highest decision-making body of the amalgam, the General Council and the Working Committee at its Rajbagh headquarters here.

MORE UNI AG VA PM1349