Kashmir leaders invited for Eid Milan

Pakistan’s High Commission in India has invited Hurriyat leaders and other separatists from Kashmir to its Eid Milan party to be held on July 21.

“There is nothing unusual about our invite to Hurriyat leaders,” Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit told India Abroad News Service (IANS).  He said Pakistan would continue to extend its support to the people of Kashmir.

“Pakistan will continue extending its moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir in their legitimate struggle for self-determination as provided for in the United Nations Charter and universal declaration of human rights,” Basit said.

Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, however, said the decision whether to attend the party or not, was yet to be made by the party.

“We are yet to make a decision of attending the party,” Hurriyat spokesperson Ayaz Akbar said over the phone from Srinagar.

Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front leader Mohammad Yasin Malik and Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said they had not received the invitation. They would only take a decision after receiving it.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2015.