Describing as a "positive development" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's invitation to the Hurriyat leaders for talks, Pakistan on Thursday said it wanted them to be associated with the dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue. "It is a positive development that Hurriyat leaders will be meeting Indian leadership. We welcome it," Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan told reporters after meeting his visiting Indian counterpart Shyam Saran in Islamabad.
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Dr Singh on Wednesday invited the moderate Hurriyat Conference leaders for talks on September 5, marking the separatist group's first highest-level interaction with the Centre.
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Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq immediately accepted the invitation. Declining to get into a debate over differences between Farooq and hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Khan recalled the visit of Farooq along with other leaders of his faction in June to Pakistan during which they held discussions with the leadership in Islamabad.
He said Pakistan wanted the Hurriyat leaders to be associated with talks to resolve the Kashmir issue. Islamabad wants India, Pakistan and Kashmiris to be involved in the talks, Khan added.
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