Pakistan says will continue interaction with Hurriyat leaders despite opposition from India

Pakistan has reportedly declared that it will continue interacting with Hurriyat leaders in keeping with its traditional practice despite opposition from the Indian government, a report said.

Riffat Masood, the acting spokesperson for the Foreign Office, said on Wednesday, "meetings between the All Parties Hurriyat Conference leadership and Pakistan's high commissioner in New Delhi are a longstanding practice and it will continue," reported The Express Tribune.

She was responding to the criticism heaped by recent reports in the Indian media about Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit's meeting with veteran Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani in New Delhi. Basit visited Geelani's residence to brief him about the outcome of the recent talks between the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India.

India called off the foreign secretary-level talks in August last year to register protest over the Pakistani high commissioner's meeting with the Kashmiri leaders. The spokesperson rejected Indian concerns and said that Pakistan believed that the Hurriyat was the true representatives of the Kashmiri people and hence regular meetings with them are customary.

Riffat said, "India is well aware of this practice and should not be raising any objection in this regard."