Musharraf Invites Kashmiri Leaders Ahead of Talks In India
ISLAMABAD, June 24 (News Agencies) - Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf has invited Kashmiri leaders for consultations on his upcoming summit with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, officials said Sunday.
Musharraf has invited Pakistan-based Kashmiri leaders and representatives of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an umbrella organization waging a separatist drive in the Indian held part of the Himalayan state, they said.
The meeting scheduled here for Thursday will also be attended by leaders of the Kashmiri community residing in the United States and Britain, they said.
Musharraf has also convened a conference of Pakistani politicians on Wednesday prior to his July 14-16 visit to India.
"The President has decided to consult representatives from important segments of the society before his departure" for the landmark summit, Musharraf's spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi told reporters.
The government has invited some 24 leaders from leading political parties and so far "there has been no refusal," he said.
The 18-party Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) is to meet on Tuesday to discuss the situation following Musharraf's decision to assume the presidency and his invitation to the politicians.
ARD chief Nawabzada Nasrullah has condemned Musharraf's assumption of the presidency after the ouster president Moahammad Rafiq Tarar last week.
Vajpayee, in a surprise move last month, invited Musharraf for talks on the 54-year old Kashmir dispute responsible for two of the three wars between India and Pakistan.
The summit will be the first after a two-year freeze in official contacts between Pakistan and India since a bloody border conflict in Kashmir's Kargil region in mid-1998.
India said it recognized Musharraf's assumption of the country's presidency and would grant him appropriate treatment when he visits New Delhi.
Qureshi said there was no fixed agenda for the summit.
"The Pakistan side will focus on the Kashmir issue but it will not hesitate to discuss any other topic India would like to raise at the meeting."
"Kashmir is the core issue and the main cause of tension between Pakistan and India," he said, holding the dispute responsible for poverty in the region.
Information Secretary Anwar Mahmud, who was also present, said a two-member official team would be leaving for India on Wednesday to finalize the summit programme.
The composition of the Pakistani delegation has not yet been finalized, he said.
Mahmud said a large number of Pakistani journalists were expected to cover the summit and denied that India had refused to issue visas to representatives of Pakistan's state run television.
