New Delhi, Jan 15 (IANS) Separatist groups and, at least, two Jammu and Kashmir legislators have been invited to a conference on Kashmir set to be held in Islamabad, but it was yet not clear how many will take part.
The invitation for the January 20-21 Round Table Conference has been issued by Sardar Muhammed Yaqoob Khan, president of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Those invited include all wings of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, civil society members and legislators Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami (CPI-M) and Engineer Rashid (Independent).
Tarigami told IANS on the phone that he was yet to decide about his participation. An engineer said he would respond to IANS queries later.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Mohammed Yasin Malik said he was yet to get an invite.
Separatist leaders invited to Islamabad include Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Aisa Andrabi, Shabir Shah, Aga Syed Hasan and Muhammad Yousuf Naqash.
The invitees have been asked to shed light on the Kashmir conflict and its ramifications on India-Pakistan relations as well as the "rise of Hindu right in India".
A similar conference was held in Muzaffarabad, a capital of Pakistan- administered Kashmir, in 2008.
That meeting was attended, among others, by CPI-M leader Tarigami, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, PDP leader Moulvi Iftikhar Ansari and Independent MLA Hakeem Yasin.
Pakistan controls the northern third of Jammu and Kashmir state.
