Musharraf writes to Bhat, keen on meeting

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, JULY 5. The Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has written to the All-Party Hurriyat Conference chairman, Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat, expressing a desire to meet the APHC leaders during his coming visit to India. The Hurriyat also hopes for a similar response from New Delhi.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Thursday, Prof. Bhat said Gen. Musharraf had acknowledged his letter seeking a meeting before or after the summit. ``I look forward to an opportunity to meet you and other leaders of the APHC during my visit to India. I have asked the Pakistan High Commissioner to make the necessary arrangements in this regard,'' said the letter from Gen. Musharraf. He also reiterated full moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle.

Prof. Bhat said, ``we wrote to the President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India on June 22 and proposed a meeting outside summit either before or after. These were released to the press and we waited for a while for replies from both sides. This created a bit confusion and many stories were circulated dismissing the APHC as irrelevant.'' Brushing aside the criticism, Prof. Bhat said, ``we never took it to our hearts that we have been marginalised. We knew the whole process had to proceed smoothly forward and it did.''

Asked whether the Government of India would allow the APHC leaders to meet Gen. Musharraf as also about the meeting they had sought with the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, he said, ``let us hope for the best,'' adding ``I do not think the Prime Minister will block the passage to sanity.'' On writing identical letters to Mr. Vajpayee and Gen. Musharraf, he said, ``we have reached a stage where we have to take measured steps and not speak words which can vitiate the political climate.''

Earlier, the APHC executive met for over three hours and discussed the letter received by Prof. Bhat last evening. Besides Prof. Bhat, Moulvi Abbas Ansari (Ittehadul Muslimeen), Sheikh Abdul Aziz (People's League), Mr. Bashir Ahmed Butt (JKLF), Mr. G. M. Bhat (Awami Action Committee), Mr. Ghulam Ahmed Gulzar (People's Conference) and Sheikh Ali Mohammad (Jamat-e- Islami) attended. Mr. Abdul Ghani Lone, Mr. Ali Shah Geelani, Mr. Yaseen Malik and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq are out of Kashmir.

Wedding invitation

In another development, the senior Hurriyat leader and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front vice-chairman, Mr. Javed Ahmed Mir, has invited Mr. Vajpayee and Gen. Musharraf for his wedding reception here on July 23. Expressing the hope that his invitation would be accepted, Mr. Mir said, ``it is another opportunity for them to discuss Kashmir with an open mind and that too on the land which is in trouble.''

In an attempt to make it an event where people from across the border can meet, Mr. Mir has invited leaders from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as well as several diplomats and journalists from New Delhi. Mr. Mir is among the young separatist leaders who have finally chosen to shun bachelorhood. Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Shahidul Islam have also tied the knot but the marriages are yet to be solmenised. The JKLF chairman, Mr. Yaseen Malik, is also preparing to enter wedlock.

Text of the letter

July 2, 2001

Dear Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat,

Thank you for your letter of June 22, 2001 proposing a meeting with the APHC during my coming visit to India.

I look forward to an appointment to meet you and other leaders of APHC during my visit to India. I have asked the Pakistani High Commissioner to make necessary arrangements in this regard.

Let me assure you that Pakistan will continue to extend its full moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle.

Yours sincerely,

(Gen. Pervez Musharraf)

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Next     : We have to study report: DGP