Mirwaiz Hurriyat holds closed-door meeting ahead of Pak visit

Srinagar, Jan 11 (UNI) The moderate Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, held a closed-door meeting here today, ahead of the visit of its three-member delegation to Pakistan on January 18.

Sources said the closed-door meeting was attended by all the members of the Hurriyat Executive Committee, the highest decision-making body of the separatist amalgam, the Working Committee and the General Council.

They said among other things the visit of Hurriyat leaders -- chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat and Bilal Ghani Lone -- to Pakistan and also the likely meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on January 17.

However, the sources said the moderate Hurriyat Conference was awaiting a formal invitation from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for a meeting with Dr Singh ahead of the visit of amalgam leaders to Pakistan, beginning January 18.

The sources had earlier indicated that the Prime Minister was likely to hold the third round of talks with the Hurriyat leaders in New Delhi on January 17.

They said the Hurriyat leaders had received positive feelers from various interlocutors suggesting that Dr Singh had agreed to meet them before their visit to Pakistan.

The amalgam leaders had repeatedly expressed a desire to meet the Prime Minister before they travel to Islamabad.

The sources had indicated that the meeting was likely to take place after the Prime Minister's return from Philippines where he is going to attend the ASEAN and East Asia Summits on January 14-15 to be held at Cebu near Manila.

At the Hurriyat Executive Committee meeting here on Monday, the separatist amalgam had decided that it would accept an invitation from New Delhi for another round of talks with the Prime Minister.

UNI