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Clinton meets Hurriyat representatives

NEW DELHI: US President Bill Clinton has given full encouragement to All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) when he met its representatives and received a letter sent to him by APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq prior to his visit to the region.

According the media sources here, Clinton has met representatives led by Kashmiri leader Ghulam Nabi Fai and assured a two-hour meeting between the Kashmiri expatriates and officials of the US State Department.

Clinton has not yet cleared a meeting with APHC leaders in New Delhi, preferring to keep this issue "under consideration" for the time being. He has, however, made it clear through repeated statements that the resolution of the Kashmir problem is an important part of his agenda.

The Indian foreign office here is opposing to any such meeting, and had communicated this to Washington. Efforts are being made to counter the Hurriyat complaint of being isolated and victimised by the government through media reports suggesting negotiations between the Hurriyat leaders and a panel of eminent citizens acting for the government. Hurriyat leaders deny these reports maintaining, "there has been no contact of any kind between us and the government, and we just do not know why they are saying all this.

Fai is a powerful lobbyist in Washington who is working now with the Hurriyat. Those who met President Clinton with him included Kashmiri expatriates and members of the Kashmir American Council Dr. Khalid Jahangir and Mir Nazir.

The delegation requested the US President to personally intervene Kashmir. They handed over a letter from Mirwaiz asking for an audience with the US President in New Delhi. He, however, did not make any commitments.

Fai, Dr. Jahangir and two other Kashmiri expatriates followed this up with a two-hour meeting with US State Department officials. Details of the discussion could not be ascertained. APP