Hardline Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani has stoked a controversy by paying tributes to 2 militants who were killed in an encounter in Tral area of Kashmir, in which an army commander and a policeman died.
"We have no objection if they [the Hurriyat leaders] want to travel to Delhi and hold talks with the Indian leadership," he said.
Under the Indo-Pak agreement for the launch of bus service, any permanent resident of Jammu and Kashmir can travel only between two parts of undivided state on a permit.
The separatist leader was scheduled to attend the funeral prayers of militant commander Manzoor-ul-Islam, who was killed in an encounter with security forces on Wednesday night, his spokesman said.
A joint contingent of police and paramilitary forces laid a cordon around Geelani's Hyderpora house early in the morning.
The CCS also discussed the Nuclear Confidence Building Measures with Pakistan.
Interestingly, the Hurriyat leaders had earlier agreed to meet Dr Singh on either of the two dates proposed by his office. What made them suddenly change their mind is not known.
While shops and business establishments remained closed for the ninth day as traders are on an indefinite strike against the implementation of value added tax, all modes of transport went off the roads on Thursday, the sources said.
Vohra, whose efforts had resulted in two rounds of talks between the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and former deputy prime minister L K Advani, quit the post citing that his appointment had been made by the previous government
The National Conference president also extended an invitation to the Mirwaiz and Mehbooba for a separate meeting.
Geelani, who is visiting Jammu on November 12 and 13 to finalise the modalities of the talks, said the amalgam also plans to hold seperate meetings with Dogras of Jammu and Buddhists of Ladakh at a later date.
The decision is a 'small yet significant step' towards the final settlement of the Kashmir issue, Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Bhat said.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday created ripples as he led a five-member delegation of civil society members to meet separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a bid to break the three-month impasse in Kashmir triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani.
Posters printed in Urdu, seen pasted in several villages of Anantnag and Pulwama districts of South Kashmir, have asked people to boycott the polls.
'These militants are our relatives, our brothers. How can we watch the security forces kill them?' Political Front leader Mohammed Musadiq Aadil explains why they pulled out of the dialogue with the Centre.
The announcement came a day after Hurriyat chairman Maulvi Abbas Ansari expressed willingness to hold the talks if the Centre extended an invitation.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on the talks between the prime minister and the Hurriyat Conference.
Geelani also condemned Pakistan government for accepting moderates as representatives of the Kashmiris.
'I have dissolved the executive committee of the Peoples Conference and expelled Sajjad from the party,' Bilal said in Srinagar.
"There is [a] strong difference of opinion with Geelani. If he cooperates and removes this difference it would be fine. Otherwise, he will slowly be isolated."
Among them are Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Shabir Ahmed Shah.
In a break from past, there was no function at the martyrs' graveyard in Srinagar after the government dropped July 13 from the list of gazetted holidays last year, officials said.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir had high expectations from the Prime Minister's visit with regard to the political resolution of the Kashmir issue."
A joint committee set up by Jammu and Kashmir and the central government recommended the revocation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's announcement to reduce troops in Jammu and Kashmir 'hasty'.
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed said the release of the detainees had nothing to do with the talks between the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Thursday in New Delhi.
He was quoted by the BBC as saying that the process should continue.
This is the first meeting between the Hurriyat and an Indian prime minister.
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