NEW DELHI, Aug 31: Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will meet Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other leaders of Kashmir’s All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Monday, both sides said on Wednesday.

The move follows weekend meetings between the prime minister’s representative Wajahat Habibullah, a bureaucrat who seems to have enjoyed the trust of ordinary Kashmiris for years, and their spiritual leader in Srinagar.

However, the move also coincided with reports of a financial investigation suddenly launched against breakaway liberal leader Shabbir Shah, indicating that not all was well with the latest peace overture from New Delhi.

Another resistance leader, JKLF’s Yasin Malik, was said to be invited to meet Dr Singh but he apparently pleaded his inability to attend the meeting citing a foreign tour.

“The Prime Minister has invited Hurriyat chairman and other leaders for talks,” the Indian prime minister’s Media Adviser Sanjaya Baru said.

Opinion

Editorial

Football elections
17 Nov, 2024

Football elections

PAKISTAN football enters the most crucial juncture of its ‘normalisation’ era next week, when an Extraordinary...
IMF’s concern
17 Nov, 2024

IMF’s concern

ON Friday, the IMF team wrapped up its weeklong unscheduled talks on the Fund’s ongoing $7bn programme with the...
‘Un-Islamic’ VPNs
Updated 17 Nov, 2024

‘Un-Islamic’ VPNs

If curbing pornography is really the country’s foremost concern while it stumbles from one crisis to the next, there must be better ways to do so.
Agriculture tax
Updated 16 Nov, 2024

Agriculture tax

Amendments made in Punjab's agri income tax law are crucial to make the system equitable.
Genocidal violence
16 Nov, 2024

Genocidal violence

A RECENTLY released UN report confirms what many around the world already know: that Israel has been using genocidal...
Breathless Punjab
16 Nov, 2024

Breathless Punjab

PUNJAB’s smog crisis has effectively spiralled out of control, with air quality readings shattering all past...