Pakistan High commision Abdul Basit greets Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq durinng Eid Milan at Pakistan High Commision. (PTI File Photo)
As India and Pakistan prepare to resume a long-stalled formal dialogue, Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit met a delegation of separatists today in a move that risks aggravating New Delhi.
The meeting in Delhi came as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Parliament said that dialogue between India and Pakistan was based on trust. "When we have decided there will be no third party mediation, we will need to talk to each other," she said in Lok Sabha.
In the past, meetings of separatists and Pakistani officials have thrown off talks between the two countries on more than one occasion and hurt already strained-ties.
A statement issued by Hurriyat after the one-on-one meeting which went on for over an hour said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's recent visit to Islamabad was among the agenda along with Pakistan's Kashmir policy.
The two-member delegation held discussions with Mr Basit and other officials of the Pakistani Mission and pushed for a "firm stand on Kashmir", a Hurriyat spokesperson said.
"The Hurriyat delegation handed them a message from (Syed Ali Shah) Geelani that Pakistan should continue to maintain consistency and firmness over its Kashmir policy and play an active role in highlighting the human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir at international forums," the spokesperson said. He added that the delegation also apprised the Pakistan High Commissioner about the present situation in Kashmir.
In the first signs of a thaw after a recent spate of wrangles, PM Modi had met with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Paris last month.
Their meeting was soon followed by National Security Advisor-level talks in Bangkok and Sushma Swaraj's visit to Islamabad to attend the 'Heart of Asia' conference where she held talks with her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz and also Mr Sharif.
PM Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had agreed to resume dialogue in Ufa, Russia on the sidelines of a regional summit in August last year. Pakistan later cancelled the scheduled NSA-level talks after India said that it will not accept Mr Aziz's meeting with the separatists.