Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik after being released from house arrest
In a move that telegraphed confusion on a crucial issue, Kashmiri separatists invited to meet Pakistan's Sartaj Aziz on Sunday were placed under house arrest and then freed around two hours later on Thursday.
Here are 10 developments in the story:
Top government sources described the detention and release as "a signal that the separatists cannot be a third party to talks."
But the two-hour arrest set off speculation. Sources in the central government say orders for the arrest and release were sent from Delhi. In Kashmir, sources said it was Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, who asked for the house arrest to be revoked.
The separatists, Yasin Malik, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, have been invited to a reception in Delhi for Sartaj Aziz, who will arrive on Sunday for talks on terror with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
Pakistan's foreign office says it has no official word from New Delhi and plans to go ahead with the meeting with separatists on Sunday evening. In what could stir more trouble, the foreign office spokesperson said Mr Aziz would "raise all issues including Kashmir."
Indicting what could be a way out, the ruling BJP has suggested that it has no objections to the separatists, or Hurriyat leaders, meeting Mr Aziz after his formal talks with Mr Doval.
Pakistan's invite to separatists is seen as provocation by India, but the government has said it will not be baited into cancelling what is the first such dialogue between the two countries after a year.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticised the government in a series of tweets. "I've never seen an Indo-Pak dialogue where both sides are so keen to sabotage it. India & Pak competing to give reasons to call off talks," he commented.
Last July, India called off talks after Pakistan consulted Kashmiri separatists before a meeting of Foreign Secretaries. A year later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif met on the sidelines of a conference in Ufa, Russia, and agreed to restart talks as part of several breakthrough announcements.
The meeting between Ajit Doval and Sartaj Aziz on the weekend is meant to focus on terror and comes as Pakistani troops have fired across the border in Jammu and Kashmir, targeting civilians.
There have also been two major terror attacks by Pakistanis in Punjab and Uddhampur in the Jammu region. Mohammad Naveed, captured there, has revealed crucial information to interrogators about training camps in Pakistan for terrorists like him.
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