Moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, on Saturday said it will not participate in the third roundtable conference on Kashmir to be held later this month in New Delhi.
"We are not going to attend the April 24 roundtable... scheduled to discuss centre-state relations or developmental issues," Hurriyat spokesman Shahid-ul-Islam told the media.
The executive committee, highest decision-making body of the Hurriyat, has decided long back not to participate in such conferences, he said.
"It is our policy decision, hence we cannot be part of the conference," he added.
The separatists had boycotted the earlier two rounds of the roundtable on the ground that they would not like to share a platform with those parties who agreed Kashmir was an integral part of the country.
The third roundtable conference will be held on April 24 in New Delhi. The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting Azad had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday in which Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil was also present.
Announcing the decision yesterday, Azad said that the meeting would discuss the recommendations of five working groups set up by the Prime Minister after the second roundtable on May 24, 2005.
It will provide yet another platform to representatives of political parties, ethnic groups and opinion leaders from all the three regions to deliberate upon all issues, he said.
Announcing the decision yesterday, Azad said that the meeting would discuss the recommendations of five working groups set up by the Prime Minister after the second roundtable on May 24, 2005.
It will provide yet another platform to representatives of political parties, ethnic groups and opinion leaders from all the three regions to deliberate upon all issues, he said.