Pakistan has told both the warring factions of the Hurriyat Conference in categorical terms to close ranks immediately in the larger interest of unity and resolution of the Kashmir issue.
Hurriyat sources said unity efforts gained momentum after the secret meeting between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at Amsterdam on September 24.
The sources said the unification issue was discussed in strong terms when leaders of the two factions met senior Pakistan officials at an 'Iftar' party hosted by High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan here, Kashmir Times reported.
The "mushrooming of insignificant political outfits" also came up for discussion. It was decided that all the outfits have to close "down their shutters" and join the "united Hurriyat."
More than 50 Kashmiri leaders and functionaries of political parties attended the Pakistan High Commission 'Iftar'.
For some, it was a chance meeting. Among them were Hurriyat hard-liner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, his confidante Ghulam Muhammad Sumji, Sheikh Abdul Aziz of the Peoples League, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Yasin Malik, Democratic Freedom Party Chief Shabir Shah, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Forum Chairman Javed Mir, National Front Chief Nayeem Khan and moderate Hurriyat leaders Professor Abdul Ghani Bhat and Bilal Ghani Lone.
The Mirwaiz and former amalgam chairman Moulvi Abbas Ansari were, however, conspicuous by their absence.
At the party, top separatists avoided eye-contact though they crossed each other several times indicating how difficult the rapprochement could be.
The Pakistani High Commissioner was seen attending to the Geelani faction or talking to Malik. His deputy Munawwar Saeed Bhatti was with to Professor Bhat and Lone.
The Musharraf-Mirwaiz meeting at the Netherlands capital was preceded by the Summit level talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Pakistan President in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly session.
The Mirwaiz had described the meeting as "a chance encounter." However, the sources maintained that the meeting was pre-planned where issues such as the Hurriyat split and Pakistan's recognition of the faction led by Geelani as the "real" Hurriyat were discussed threadbare during their more than three-hour-long interaction.
The Mirwaiz said General Musharraf termed the division among the Hurriyat ranks as "unfortunate" and said, "he was eager to see Kashmiris talking in one voice."
Talking to reporters after the 'Iftar', Professor Bhat said his faction was not backtracking from the dialogue process but the Centre should implement the decisions agreed upon in the first two rounds of talks between former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and the Hurriyat leaders.
"We had made significant progress in the two rounds of talks. We had reached a point where we could have started talking on substantial issues and had identified those which were to be taken up in the third round," he added.
Professor Bhat, who is also the Hurriyat Spokesman, said, they have not taken any final decision on meeting Home Minister Shivraj Patil when he visits Jammu and Kashmir later this week.
The former Hurriyat Chairman said any formal decision would be taken by the leaders of the conglomerate "collectively and not individually." "We are open for dialogue," he added.
Both Professor Bhat and Shah welcomed the ongoing peace process, but said the dialogue would be meaningless if did not address the contentious Kashmir issue.
"There has to be a meaningful and concrete dialogue on the Kashmir issue." they said.
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