Tuesday, June 7 2005 22:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf tonight (Jun 7, 2005) met visiting Kashmiri separatist leaders in Islamabad, hours after they were told by Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri that Pakistan "force" India to include them in the dialogue process to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Musharraf is understood to have shared with them some ideas on the resolution of Kashmir issue while the separatist leaders emphasized on the inclusion of Kashmiris in the Indo-Pak dialogue process aimed at settling the problem.

Earlier, the leaders held a two-hour luncheon meeting with Kasuri who made it clear to them that "we cannot force India to include the Kashmiri representatives in the dialogue".

Pakistan has been trying to persuade India to include "genuine" representatives of Kashmir in the dialogue but has not been successful, Kasuri told reporters after the meeting with Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and eight other leaders from the Kashmir valley including Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik in Islamabad.

Kasuri, however, said Pakistan has been trying to put "diplomatic pressure" on India in this regard.

The meetings came amidst reports that militant outfit Hizbul Muzahideen chief Syed Salahuddin had met Farooq and Malik on Sunday (Jun 5, 2005). Salahuddin told them that he could not back their peace move or any future solution to the Kashmir problem unless hard line Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who turned down the invitation to visit Pakistan, was taken onboard.

During the meeting with Kasuri, the separatist leaders discussed the ongoing peace process to resolve the Kashmir issue and their demand for inclusion of Hurriyat representatives in the dialogue process to make it trilateral.

Kasuri also vehemently denied allegations by Geelani that Pakistan followed a US-drawn roadmap on Kashmir under pressure.

He said similar allegations were made in the past over Iraq but Pakistan neither voted for the US invasion of Iraq nor dispatched its army to Baghdad at Americans' request.