Kashmiri leader Geelani turns down Pak High Commission invite to Eid Milan

NEW DELHI: Senior Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani has turned down an invitation to an Eid Milan party extended by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

According to reports, Geelani was of the view that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi did not discuss the Kashmir issue during their recent meeting in Ufa.

The Hurriyet Conference leader said that it was deplorable that the Kashmir issue, which remains a key matter between Islamabad and New Delhi, was ignored during the meeting of the two prime ministers on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

"As the two prime ministers ignored the fate of over 10 million people of Jammu and Kashmir in their meeting, we reject being a part of any of their celebration," Geelani told Indian news agency IANS over the phone from Srinagar.

"The Kashmir issue is question of life and death for us. Nobody can take us for granted. And I will not attend the Eid Milan in New Delhi to register a symbolic protest," he was quoted as saying.