Senior Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Saturday rejected the Centre's invitation to participate in the second roundtable conference on Kashmir, convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Occupied Srinagar on Wednesday to Thursday (May 24 to 25).
Addressing a crowded news conference in the capital of Indian Occupied Kashmir, he also called for a general strike on both the days, adding New Delhi was not sincere towards resolving the Kashmir issue.
He also read the invitation letter sent by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on the occasion, said news reports received here. Other Hurriyat leaders, the reports added, were however undecided about attending the meet.
Describing the roundtable, to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as "futile excuse", Syed Geelani observed the only peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue laid in implementing the UN resolutions.
He said his faction of the Hurriyat would not enter into a dialogue with the Centre unless it accepted Kashmir as a disputed territory, withdrew troops, revoked "black laws" and released all detainees.
Though a majority of the constituents of the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq are also opposed to participating in the conference, the amalgam has convened a meeting on Monday (May 22) to take a decision in the matter, said the reports.
"The final decision to take part or keep away from the roundtable will be taken at the meeting on Monday," said a spokesman of the Hurriyat Conference. However, he said the government should invite only the Kashmiri leaders and not the mainstream parties to such a conference, who are in power.
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