Wednesday, March 23 2005 10:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A senior Pakistani diplomat last night (Mar 22, 2005) met hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in New Delhi to placate him after he had asked his party men to stay away from celebrations of Pakistan National Day today (Mar 23, 2005) and flayed Islamabad for agreeing to Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.

Geelani, before flying in New Delhi on Sunday (Mar 20, 2005), had called a meeting of his breakaway Hurriyat Conference faction leaders and instructed them not to attend the Pakistan National Day, an event attended every year by separatist leaders of Kashmir.

Earlier, Geelani had hit out at Pakistan for its approval to Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, saying this tantamount to giving permanency to the status quo in Jammu and Kashmir.

Finding Geelani peeved, Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Munawar Bhatti went to his South Delhi residence to urge him to join the Pakistan National Day today, the sources said.

The meeting lasted for 30 minutes and it was not immediately known whether Geelani would ultimately attend he event.

Interestingly, several members of Geelani-led Hurriyat faction have reached Delhi to attend the Pakistan National Day despite his directive not to attend the function.