Shabir Shah calls for trilateral talks after meet with Pak HC

New Delhi, Aug 18: Separatist leader Shabir Shah on Monday held a meeting with Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit and favoured "trilateral" talks to resolve the Kashmir issue.

"We believe in meaningful dialogue. But bilateral dialogues that have taken place so far has failed. We think there should be trilateral talks," he told reporters outside the Pakistani High Commission.

Shah reached the Pakistani mission here around 4:45 pm and spoke with Basit for about an hour. India cancelled the foreign secretary level talks between the two nations, scheduled to be held in Islamabad on August 25, raising strong objections to the meeting between the separatist leader and the Pakistani High Commissioner.

Around 10 to 15 protesters belonging to a saffron outfit staged a protest outside the Pakistani mission earlier in the day over Basit's meeting with separatist leaders. They were detained and later taken to Chanakyapuri police station.

PTI