Nawaz invites Hurriyat leader Geelani to visit Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has extended an invitation to veteran Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to visit Pakistan.
According to Indian media reports shortly after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted saying that India and Pakistan should “live like good neighbours”, an invitation has been extended on his behalf to Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to visit Pakistan, a Hurriyat spokesperson has said.
“Geelani was handed the invitation letter from PM Nawaz Sharif by Pakistan High Commissioner in India Abdul Basit over a dinner at the latter’s residence at Tilak Marg in Delhi last night,” a spokesman of the Geelani-led Hurriyat said.
The spokesperson said that Syed Geelani had in principle accepted the invitation to visit Pakistan. He, however, did not give specific date of travel.
Nawaz Sharif termed the ‘Kashmir issue’ as the unfinished agenda of the creation of Pakistan and contended that friendly relations between Islamabad and New Delhi without resolving Kashmir would be nothing but “self deceit”, the spokesperson said.
“In the letter, Prime Minister Nawaz has said that Kashmir is not a border dispute but concerns ‘right to self-determination’ of twenty million people. He also said Pakistan has made it clear to India that there can be no progress on bilateral ties while ignoring Kashmir issue,” the spokesman said.
“We want good relations with all our neighbours including India but New Delhi’s unrealistic approach has been a big impediment,” the spokesman quoted the Pakistan prime minister having said in the letter.
Interestingly Indian government suspended passport of Ali Syed Geelani last month, when he showed intention to visit New York during the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 70th summit. It is likely that Ali Syed Geelani undertake visit to Pakistan this week before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s departure for Washington on an official visit of the United States on the invitation of President Obama.