Indian foreign secretary voices concern: Hina's meeting with Kashmiri leaders

India's foreign secretary voiced concern on Wednesday about the Pakistani Foreign Minister's decision to meet Kashmiri leaders a day before peace talks with her Indian counterpart. Despite an upbeat assessment of the talks by the Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said Tuesday's meeting between Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and a Kashmiri leader illustrated the "divergence" between the two countries.
"We have a very different point of view from Pakistan on that particular event (the meeting) and we have expressed our concerns in a frank and candid manner to the Pakistan side," Rao told reporters. Khar, after arriving in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, met Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the chairman of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, and other leaders.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told reporters on Wednesday not to read too much into the meeting between Khar and the political separatist leaders. "This matter of the meeting yesterday cannot be construed in any manner including intentionally or by design to cast any shadow on today's talks," he said.
"I think we should not read more into it." Geelani's aide, Ayaz Akbar, told AFP that the Kashmiri leader urged Khar not to take any step "in haste which would be against the sentiments and aspirations of Kashmiris." A senior Indian government official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the meeting was "not a good idea at all" and served "no useful purpose" in the context of the ongoing peace dialogue.