We are always available for PM, says Hurriyat

Srinagar, Jan 7: The Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, today said the separatist amalgam was 'always available' for a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, if he so desired.

The statement comes amid media reports suggesting that the moderate Hurriyat leaders were likely to meet the Prime Minister next week, ahead of their visit to Pakistan.

''If he (Prime Minister) pleases to talk to us, we are always available for him,'' senior Hurriyat leader Professor Abdul Ghani Bhat told UNI on his return here from New Delhi today.

He said it was imperative for the success of the ongoing dialogue process that the people do the talking.

''We strongly believe that talking alone will take us somewhere.

Let us all know that the talks should not be held for the pleasure of it...but for a cause and a purpose,'' Prof Bhat said.

He said the Hurriyat delegation was likely to visit Islamabad in the third week of January.

The former Hurriyat chairman said the delegation and other modalities of the visit would be finalised soon.

Moderate Hurriyat leaders, led by Professor Bhat, met a European Union (EU) delegation in New Delhi on Thursday and discussed the prevailing political situation in strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir.

The Hurriyat leaders told the EU delegation, led by European Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Elmar Brok, that Emma Nicholson's recent report on the ground situation in the troubled-state was ''impartial'' and not based on facts.

They claimed that Ms Micholson, during her visit to Kashmir, met only pro-India leaders and not any separatist.

The Hurriyat leaders impressed upon the EU delegation that the world community should adopt a realistic approach vis-a-vis resolution of the Kashmir issue for permanent peace and security in South Asia.

Meanwhile, breakaway Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani also met EU delegation member James Elles in the national capital on Friday night and apprised him about the various aspects of the long-festering Kashmir issue.

UNI

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