Valley team will be in Pak next week, says Mirwaiz

Hours after Kashmiri separatist leaders made direct contact today with the Islamabad establishment for the first time since the Agra summit,...

Hours after Kashmiri separatist leaders made direct contact today with the Islamabad establishment for the first time since the Agra summit, moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said a ‘‘fact-finding mission’’ would visit Pakistan next week to get to the bottom of the conspiracy behind the killing of his uncle last month.

Umer’s decision to send a delegation of the Awami Action Committee (AAC), a Hurriyat constituent, to Pakistan suggests that both the governments of India and Pakistan are trying to get Kashmiri groups on either side to talk to each other.

It comes on a day when Pakistan foreign office spokesman Masood Khan said Kashmiris were a ‘‘principal party to the dispute’’ and their aspirations had to be considered for a ‘‘viable and just solution’’ to the Kashmir problem.

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Umer said he raised the issue of his uncle’s killing during his two-hour conversation with the visiting Pakistan foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar today.

Khokhar is said to have told him that ‘‘Islamabad will welcome any move to unveil the killers’’ of his uncle.

According to Umer, the AAC delegation would be holding talks with the United Jehad Council in Muzaffarabad as well as other parts of Pakistan.

It is unclear which Kashmiri leader will actually travel to Pakistan. There was also no comment from the Pakistani side on Umer’s remarks.

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Clearly, though, those expected to travel have passports which were either never impounded by the Centre or have been returned to them recently.

Highly placed sources in the government said the Kashmiri leaders will be travelling in their ‘‘individual’’ capacity.

As far as New Delhi is concerned, the sources said, they will ‘‘not be representing the Hurriyat’’ when they meet various people in Pakistan.

Whatever the label that New Delhi chooses to put on this proposed delegation, the fact remains that a group of Kashmiri leaders will be the first to travel to Pakistan since Abdul Ghani Lone went for the wedding of his son to a Pakistani girl a couple of years ago.

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Others who met Khokhar included Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who leads the hardline Hurriyat faction, JKLF chief Yasin Malik, Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabir Shah and Peoples League’s Sheikh Aziz.

Although tripartite discussions have been ruled out, Kashmiri separatist leaders are being allowed meetings with the Pakistanis while the new government at the Centre tries to broaden the ambit of its Kashmir talks.

The Centre, already in close contact with the Ansari-led Hurriyat faction, has signalled that it’s not averse to dealing with leaders of other groups as well.

In Srinagar, while there are no expectations of any early breakthrough, many see some progress being made on the ground. Geelani represents a significant chunk of Kashmiri separatist politics, the only leader who still has considerable influence over militant groups.

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Yasin Malik represents the pro-independece Kashmir politics, a sentiment that has traditionally been strong in the Valley. Similarly, Umer is an important religious and political leader.

Much is being read into the leaders’ meeting with Khokhar. Pakistan has been pushing for the re-unification of the Hurriyat Conference, a move that can help Indo-Pak parleys on Kashmir.

‘‘We clearly told him (Khokhar) that the involvement of Kashmiris in the dialogue process is essential to achieve any success,’’ Yasin Malik told The Indian Express. This view is shared by Hurriyat factions led by Ansari and Geelani.