File photo of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani
Indicating utter confusion on a crucial issue, the three Kashmiri separatists who were placed under house arrest just two hours ago have now been freed. Their confinement was ordered just days before they are to travel to Delhi to meet with Pakistan's Sartaj Aziz, who will arrive in India on Sunday to hold talks on terror with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The separatists, Yasin Malik, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, have been invited to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on Sunday - when Mr Aziz is meant to begin talks with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The invite is a significant irritant for India, but the government has said it will not cancel the talks, which is what it alleges as Pakistan's intent. Indian officials told NDTV on Wednesday that a "surprise" awaits Pakistan in the dialogue, but did not elaborate.
The meeting between the top security officials will see the resumption of dialogue between the two countries after a year. Last July, India called off talks after Pakistan consulted Kashmiri separatists before a meeting of Foreign Secretaries. A thaw was managed a year later at an unexpected meeting in Ufa, Russia, in July between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif, who agreed to restart talks.
The meeting 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.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticised the government move in tweets, though his father and senior National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah took a different stand.