Islamabad: Pakistan today (Oct 12, 2004) said restrictions imposed by India on hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and other Kashmiri leaders would "not augur well for the ongoing peace process" and hoped that New Delhi would remove them as a confidence building measure (CBM).

"India's decision to restrict prominent Kashmiri leaders from engaging in normal political activities was unnecessary and would not augur well for the ongoing peace process," a Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement, referring to the house arrest of Geelani and Shabir Ahmed Shah and detention of JKLF chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik.

The spokesman also expressed the hope that the Government of India would remove all restrictions on Hurriyat Conference and other Kashmiri leaders and allow them freedom of movement and expression.

This, he said, would itself be a confidence building measure in the context of the ongoing dialogue process between Pakistan and India.