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Aiyar meets Mirwaiz, likely to call on Geelani

Last Updated 25 May 2017, 08:31 IST
A five-member civil society group from New Delhi, led by senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, called on moderate Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq here on Thursday.

Sources said that the delegation reached at Nigeen residence of Mirwaiz at 10:30 am to discuss the prevailing situation in the valley. "The delegation also discussed how could a dialogue be held with between the Centre and the Hurriyat leaders in the prevailing situation," they said.

The delegation, besides diplomat-turned-politician Aiyar comprises of O P Shah, Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak and Vinod  Sharma. They had earlier participated in a seminar organised by an NGO, Peace and Progress.

The leaders are likely to meet hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani later today. However, the pro-independence JKLF chief Yasin Malik has refused to meet the group.

The meetings assume significance after the group insisted on the government of India to hold dialogue with Pakistan and Hurriyat leaders for resolution of Kashmir at a seminar organised on Tuesday by the O P Shah’s Centre for Peace and Progress in Srinagar.

The group is meeting people and attending academic seminars and events giving rise to voices hinting that it may be part of Narendra Modi government's back channel efforts to normalise the situation in the Valley.

Pertinently, the Hurriyat had met earlier the group led by former BJP minister, Yashwant Sinha at his residence during 2016 unrest but had refused to meet the members of the All Party Delegation led by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in September.

Aiyar had on Tuesday said BJP chief Amit Shah’s assessment of Kashmir situation was “totally wrong” because a British viceroy had once claimed that India's problem was confined to three districts only.

"Before the freedom (of India) then British viceroy Lord Linlithgow also claimed that that disturbance was only in two to three districts in India. Now Amit Shah is saying same that there is disturbance only in three districts in Kashmir, which is totally wrong,” he said at a seminar in Srinagar.
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(Published 25 May 2017, 07:40 IST)

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