Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq meets Nawaz Sharif's envoy at Pakistani High Commission

New Delhi: Chairman of moderate Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq arrived at the Pakistan High Commission to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's envoy on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, a meeting between Sharif's adviser Sartaj Aziz and Kashmiri separatists in Delhi raked up a controversy with the BJP openly criticising the meeting and urging the government to stop Aziz from meeting the Kashmiri separatists.

BJP President Rajnath Singh termed the meeting between Aziz and the separatists to be a 'blunder' and demanded that the talks be stopped. "After making a failed attempt to buy peace with Pakistan at New York, the UPA government has now allowed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's advisor Sartaj Aziz to meet and hold talks with Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi," he said. "Why Aziz is given this opportunity when Pakistan is committing acts of aggression in the state of Jammu and Kashmir?" Singh asked and added that this is something blatantly against the established international diplomatic norms.

"By allowing Sartaj Aziz to hold talks with Kashmiri separatists, the UPA government has committed another diplomatic blunder with serious costs to national security and national interest," the BJP President said. He said that Kashmir issue is India's internal matter and should be resolved through a home grown solution.

Meanwhile, the government has slammed the separatists for the meeting. "When people come for such bilateral visits, they have their own schedules. We will meet a few people too and our agendas are similar," said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.

Farooq had expressed his interest to meet the Pakistani envoy. "There is a new government in Pakistan, It is the first time that Hurriyut Conference is meeting officials of the new government, so obviously we'd be interested in hearing what kind of process do they want to initiate vis-a-vis Kashmir towards this problem," Umar said adding that Hurriyut Conference has always wanted a peaceful solution to the Kashmir problem.