Defiant Kashmiri separatist leaders continued to meet Pakistan’s envoy to New Delhi on Tuesday, a day after India cancelled talks with its nuclear-armed neighbour that prompted a strong reaction from the Pakistani media and the United States to term the move “unfortunate.”
Syed Geelani, a senior leader of the 26-party Hurriyat Conference, and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik met Pakistani high commissioner to India Abdul Basit, but it was not immediately clear what they spoke about.
Basit met separatist leader Shabbir Shah on Monday, ignoring the Indian government’s warning that doing so could jeopardise the foreign secretary-level talks that were planned for August 25.
Speaking to reporters before his meeting with Basit, Geelani criticised India’s decision, saying it was undemocratic.
“We have been visiting Pakistan embassy several times to hold talks,” he said, referring to an almost two-decades-old practice of Kashmiri separatists holding dialogue with Pakistani officials, including during the tenure of the previous BJP-led government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
“The issue of Jammu and Kashmir is an international issue and it should be solved. As long as promises made to us are not fulfilled, this issue will remain unsolved,” Geelani said.
India’s move was seen as dampening expectations that the two countries would resume a tentative peace process under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who raised such hopes by inviting South Asian leaders, including his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, to his inauguration in May.
Following Monday’s decision by New Delhi, that bonhomie is looking like a distant dream, prompting Washington to call the move “unfortunate.”
“It is unfortunate that planned talks between India and Pakistan have fallen through,” US state department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters after the cancelling of talks.
