Separatist leaders in the Valley have turned down Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's invitation to discuss their issues with the all-party delegation visiting the troubled state, The Indian Express reported on Sunday. The separatist leaders said the delegation's visit was a "deceitful method of crisis management". Leaders of the Hurriyat Conference, who have been under house arrest during the unrest in the state or in jail, decided to take a stand of no-dialogue.

Separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, issued a joint declaration that said the chief minister continued to perform "the role of obfuscation", and that her main concern was to lend "credence and credibility” to the delegation. They also accused the delegation of not specifying a mandate for the discussion. Their statement said, "Everyone knows that people have been shouting for azaadi on the roads. The dirty ambitions of the collaborators and their masters in Delhi have turned them deaf and blind."

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However, Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) as well as Communist Party of India's D Raja and Yousuf Tarigami, who were part of the all-party delegation, tried to meet Hurriyat leaders in Srinagar separately on Sunday evening, but Geelani turned them away, ANI reported. Farooq, however, met All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi, according to PTI.

Mufti's invitation to the separatist leaders was also criticised by National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who said the chief minister should have released them from house arrest before inviting them to the discussion. The all-party delegation, led by Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh, met in Kashir as part of efforts to address the unrest in the Valley that followed the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.