Khar meets Yasin Malik ahead of India visit, talks Kashmir

Lahore: Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar today said bilateral parleys on Kashmir issue should not be only “for the sake of dialogue” and should yield “constructive results”.

Khar, who will hold talks with her Indian counterpart SM Krishna in New Delhi on 27 July, is scheduled to leave for India on Thursday.

She made the remarks during a meeting with Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik at the State Guest House in Lahore.

“Pakistan believes in the resolution of the Kashmir issue as per the wishes of the Kashmiris in the light of UN resolutions on Kashmir,” she said.

Genuine Kashmiri leaders should be part of the dialogue on the issue and concerns shown by the Kashmiri leadership will be raised during her meeting with Krishna, she said.

The “concept of a tripartite meeting on Kashmir was based on suggestions of the Kashmiri leaders that no dialogue could produce results without the inclusion of genuine Kashmiri leaders in the dialogue process”, Khar said.

She contended that the “Kashmir movement was a real movement comprising sections of Kashmiri society” and Pakistan fully supports this movement.

The Pakistan government is on the “same page” with the JKLF leadership on the Kashmir issue, she added.

Khar invited JKLF leaders for a meeting prior to her departure to India.

Foreign secretary Salman Bashir and JKLF leaders Muhammad Rafique Dar and Saleem Haroon also attended the meeting. Khar also held a one-to-one meeting with Malik.

Malik approved of the dialogue on Kashmir between Pakistan and India and said Kashmiris have concerns over the talks due to their non-inclusion in the process.

India “must announce time-bound dialogues in order to make the dialogue process credible and acceptable to Kashmiris”, he said.

He demanded a time-bound dialogue process, participation of the Kashmiri leadership in the talks and recognition of the “independence movement” by India after “Kashmiris have unilaterally shown a transition from a violent freedom movement to a non-violent movement”.

Malik said initiatives by Pakistan and India to put in place confidence-building measures have created a healthy atmosphere in the region.

Khar plans to meet All Party Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umar Farrooq and separatist leader Ali Shah Geelani in New Delhi on Thursday.

**Watch video:**Khar has said that the relationship between India and Pakistan is more positive than it has been in years.

PTI