22 June 2001

HURRIYAT SEEKS APPOINTMENT WITH PM, MUSHARRAF

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a conglomerate of 23 separatist outfits in Jammu and Kashmir, on Friday wrote a formal letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee seeking a meeting with him before he goes into the summit rounds with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

Its chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat stressed that Vajpayee's meeting with the Hurriyat delegation would help to
translate the peace process he had initiated into a "purposeful political exercise." The letter says the Hurriyat's executive has unanimously decided to help both Vajpayee and Musharraf to consolidate the peace process set afoot in Delhi and Islamabad.

Bhat also submitted almost an identical letter to the Pakistan High Commission here on Friday addressed to Musharraf, stressing that he should find time to talk to the Hurriyat leaders during his visit to India from July 14 as that would promote the process for which he was visiting India.

"Let there be no misgivings about it. Sensitivities notwithstanding, we will have to demonstrate a deeper sense of responsibility and a higher degree of understanding in dealing with the situation, which has unmistakably assumed alarming proportions," Bhat said in the two letters written to Vajpayee and Musharraf.

In his letter to Vajpayee, he said: "This is where the Hurriyat Conference feels summoned to acknowledge with appreciation the statesmanship of your excellency and the president of Pakistan Gen Pervez Musharraf to have agreed to initiate a dialogue with seriousness and courage at the summit level."

The two-member Hurriyat delegation led by Bhat had arrived in Delhi on Thursday to explore with the Pakistan High Commissioner the possibility of their meeting with General Miusharraf.  END