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Clearing the air about its leaders calling on visiting White House interns, the Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday said the sole purpose of the meeting was to brief the interns about the situation in Kashmir.
Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone would be meeting the White House interns in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Abdul Majid Bandey, Hurriyat's New Delhi office chief told rediff.com, "The meeting with the White House interns has no diplomatic importance for the Hurriyat Conference. Hurriyat leaders are meeting them only to tell them about our side of the Kashmir story."
"For a nation in struggle, every individual is important. Considering the fact that these interns are associated with an important institution such as the White House, it becomes important for us acquaint them with what is really happening in Kashmir. It is obvious that they are going to share their experiences with their seniors," Bandey added.
The meeting is being held at the request of the Americans, he said adding that Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone were already scheduled to be in New Delhi on Wednesday for a meeting with a foreign diplomat.
An American embassy official in Delhi described the visit by the White House interns as a mere orientation programme. The interns wanted to familiarise themselves with the Kashmir issue considering its importance, he explained.
The interns would be meeting senior government officials and representatives of various political parties to get a perspective on India and the meeting with Hurriyat leaders should be viewed in this context, he said.
The US embassy official blamed the Hurriyat Conference for exaggerating the importance of the meeting adding that the interns were not going back to write US foreign policy.
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