Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 6: Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today asked Centre to create conducive atmosphere for talks before inviting separatist leadership for dialogue.
Addressing a Seerat Conference at Mirwaiz Manzil here in old city, Mirwaiz said that on the one side, offers of dialogue are being made to the separatist leadership in Kashmir by Union Government but on the other side the people as well as the Hurriyat leaders are “harassed and confined in their homes”.
“You want us to participate in the dialogue process but how is this possible when people are being huddled in jails and harassed sometimes in the name of NIA raids and sometimes in the name of national security,” Mirwaiz said.
The latest partial agreement for talks by the senior separatist leader comes a day after his faction’s senior leader Abdul Gani Bhat was said to have met Centre’s interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma last week.
Mirwaiz expressed dismay over the prolonged confinement of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani, saying he hasn’t been able to offer congregational Friday prayers for years.
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