New Delhi: In a sharp reaction over Hurriyat's demand that there should be an interlocutor in the dialogue process between India and Pakistan, senior Congress leader Manish Tewari said on Sunday that 'India does not require any interlocutor to talk to Pakistan'.
Rejecting the idea of separatist leaders being invited for Pakistan National day celebrations, scheduled to be held in New Delhi tomorrow, Tewari said, “Pakistan patronises separatists, patronises terrorist, it exports terror to India.”
“And Government of India (GoI) is falling over itself to talk to Pakistan,” Tewari added while criticising the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.
Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit will meet moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq tomorrow during which a host of issues are expected to come up and he will also be apprised of the "ground situation" in Kashmir.
A seven-member delegation of the separatist outfit, led by the Mirwaiz, left Srinagar today for the meeting at the invitation of the Pakistan envoy.
"The Hurriyat leaders will discuss various aspects of Kashmir issue and apprise the Pakistan High Commissioner about the ground situation in Kashmir," a Hurriyat spokesman said, PTI.
Meanwhile, after reaching New Delhi, Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir must be engaged in the dialogue between India and Pakistan, calling for talks to be held at a bureaucratic as well as political level.
The Hurriyat presence at the Pakistan Day celebrations comes after the meeting held between separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Islamabad's envoy Abdul Basit in New Delhi earlier on March 9.
(With Agency inputs)
