Geelani rules out separate talks to resolve Kashmir issue

Hurriyat hardliners, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, today ruled out separate talks with India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue, bringing to the fore differences among the separatists on the matter.

"Talks between Kashmiris and New Delhi are not acceptable to us. We will not participate in such talks which can yield no results," said Geelani, chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference.

Talking to reporters here, he insisted on tripartite talks involving India, Pakistan and Kashmiris for resolving the lingering Kashmir issue.

Talks between India and Pakistan, and between Kashmiris and New Delhi over the issue had failed to yield results in the past and holding such parleys again would be an exercise in futility, Geelani said.

"All the three parties — India, Pakistan and representatives of Kashmiris — should sit together to find a lasting solution to the issue," the separatist leader said.

Geelani's stand was in variance with that of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, headed by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, which favoured talks with New Delhi and Islamabad separately.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh, during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir last month, had expressed Centre's willingness to talk to anyone having meaningful ideas to promote peace in the state.