Monday, April 18 2005 07:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Top leaders of divided separatist Hurriyat Conference groups in Jammu and Kashmir last night (Apr 17, 2005) met Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf but held sharply divergent views on Confidence-Building Measures (CBM) between the two countries with the moderate faction supporting them while the hard-line group flaying Islamabad for the same.

"We support the Confidence Building Measures between the two countries, especially the bus link between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad," Hurriyat founder chairman of moderate Hurriyat Mirwaiz Umer Farooq told reporters after meeting Musharraf.

The Mirwaiz welcomed the ongoing peace process between the two countries and said they should also be involved in the process so that a lasting solution could be found to the Kashmir issue.

"President Musharraf supported our demand for visiting Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) for holding talks with political and militant leadership there," he said.

He supported the step-by-step approach adopted by the two countries and said the amalgam would meet in Srinagar again and discuss the future strategy.

On the question of unity, the Mirwaiz said, "Unity is an internal matter of the Hurriyat and we will solve it among ourselves. But at the same time, we will not allow the issue of unity to take the peace process hostage."

Asked whether they would be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said, "It is upto the Prime Minister."

Fire-brand leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, whose delegation of Teherek-e-Hurriyat, was first to meet Musharraf, opposed the CBMs alleging these were giving rise to a sense of anxiety among Kashmiris.

Musharraf told the leaders that Pakistan would never betray Kashmiri people and would continue political and diplomatic support to their "just cause".

In a veiled attack on the moderate faction, Geelani, while rejecting any moves of unity proposed by Musharraf, advised him to differentiate between "pro-movement and anti-movement" people and not to bank upon those, who were out to "sell themselves" for petty political gains.

An agitated Geelani even made it clear that the separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmir would be run by him only and anyone accepting the constitution of his amalgam was welcome to join.

Another faction of separatist leaders comprising JKLF chief Yaseen Malik and Shabir Shah, while welcoming the peace efforts, stressed for involvement of Kashmiris in all the CBMs as a "sense of deprivation" was fast emerging within the people of Kashmir.

The Pakistani side also wanted the entire brigade of separatists to have a picture together, which too was turned down by Geelani, who seemed to be fuming with anger to accept such a proposal, the sources in the meeting said.

Besides Geelani, others participating in the meeting from his side were Nayeem Khan, Aga Hassan Budgami, Saidullah Tantray and Sheikh Ali Mohammad.

Mirwaiz was accompanied by Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone and Mualana Abbas Ansari.

The Pakistan President was accompanied by Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid.