Kashmiri leaders turn down Indian delegation's meeting offer

A woman died while two others got injured in Indian troops firing in the held Kashmir valley on Monday while an all-party delegation led by Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to assess the ground situation in Kashmir Valley. Some members of the 42-member delegation are likely to call on Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani at his Hyderpora residence here. Though Geelani has officially refused to meet them, he said the delegation members will not be turned away if they decide to call on him at his house as they were guests. The freedom fighters have given mixed signals to the visit of the delegation. While the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF led by Mohammad Yasin Malik has said that they will hold joint consultations to decide whether to meet the delegation, the hardline faction led by Geelani has decided to boycott it. The delegation hopes that the leaders of various freedom movement groups will finally come for the talks.