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Kashmiri separatist leaders put under house arrest

by IBNS 20 Aug 2015, 06:39 am

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IBNS) Kashmiri separatist leaders invited by Pakistan to meet its National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz when he comes to India for talks, were placed under house arrest on Thursday morning, reports said.

Separatists Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani are the leaders kept confined to their residences.  Their houses have been barricaded.

Pakistan's National Security Advisor Sartaz Aziz is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in New Delhi on August taking up an agenda which is largely focused on countering terror.


But Pakistan's invitation to the Kashmiri separatist leaders for a meeting with Aziz has sent ripples across the political circle in India, which, however, will go ahead with the programme for the NSA-level talks viewing the Pak move as an attempt to irritate India and derail the conference.

Last July,  India called off talks after Pakistan  consulted Kashmiri separatists before a meeting  of  Foreign Secretaries.  

At a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif in Ufa in July this year both sides agreed to resume dialogue.