Wednesday, April 20 2005 21:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Playing down differences with hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Pakistan today (Apr 20, 2005) said that the disagreements were on "trivial and minor" issues while asserting that the Kashmir bus service and other Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) had the backing of a majority of Kashmiri leaders.

"We need to be very clear about who is saying what. In our judgement majority of Hurriyat leaders endorsed the bus service, when we discussed with them before the start of the bus service and after it," Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said in Islamabad, replying to a question on Geelani's objections to the bus service and other CBMs.

Similarly, the opening of other new bus and truck routes were "again endorsed by the majority of the Kashmiri leaders and the Hurriyat leadership," he said.

"Geelani Sahib is a very well respected Kashmiri leader. We hold him in high esteem. Having said that, I would like to make it clear that there is absolutely no differences between Pakistan and Kashmiri leaders on the basic issues," he said.

Geelani, who met President Pervez Musharraf in New Delhi during the General's recent visit to India, "wants a solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with wishes of Kashmiris. We have the same objectives. He wants improvement in the human rights situation, we have the same objective".

"Geelinai Sahib and others say there should be tripartite negotiations, we have the same policy. There are some trivial and minor issues on which Geelani Sahib does not subscribe to some of the initiatives taken by Pakistan. That is his point of view. Lets make it clear that in most of the cases on the basic issues, all the Kashmiri leaders, they are absolutely united," Jilani said.

On differences to run the bus services, Jilani said that Musharraf held extensive consultations with the Kashmiri leaders on both sides before and after agreeing for it. "We coordinate on Kashmir-related issues with Kashmiri leaders," he said, adding the earlier Indian proposal of designating four points along the LoC for divided Kashmiri families to meet was not agreed to because the Kashmiri leaders were "not enthusiastic" about it.

The differences between Geelani and Musharraf surfaced during their meeting in New Delhi on April 17. In his briefing to the Pakistani media, Musharraf later flayed Geelani for his objection to the bus service, saying the move enjoyed broad support.