India detains Kashmiri separatist leaders at New Delhi airport

Indian authorities on Saturday detained two Kashmiri separatist leaders in run up to their meeting with Pakistani prime minister's advisor on national security and foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz.

The leaders were detained at the New Delhi airport and placed under house arrest at rented accommodations in the capital city.

The detention came well ahead of security talks between India and Pakistan and was seen as India's efforts to prevent separatists from meeting Aziz.

"Shabir Ahmad Shah along with his two supporters and Bilal Lone have been detained on their arrival in New Delhi," a separatist leader told Xinhua.

Aziz is scheduled to visit New Delhi on Sunday to hold talks with India's national security advisor Ajit Doval.

However, the talks seem to have gone awry well before the inception, with both countries raising their ante against each other.

Pakistan has invited separatists from Indian-controlled Kashmir for a meeting with Aziz at its High Commission in New Delhi on the sidelines of his meting with Doval.

The leaders flew to New Delhi on Saturday for a meeting with Aziz.

India opposes Pakistani leaders' meeting with Kashmiri separatists. On Friday it conveyed to Pakistan it would be inappropriate for Aziz to meet separatist leaders from Kashmir.

Pakistan however turned down India's suggestion as "frivolous pretext" to back off from the talks.

Several other separatist leaders intend to travel to New Delhi to meet Aziz on Pakistan High Commission's invitation.

On Thursday, the separatist leaders including Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were detained in a bid to prevent them from traveling to Delhi. However, their detention was ended after two hours by the police surreptitiously.

The meeting of security advisors of the two countries was agreed upon by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last month during their meeting in the Russian city of Ufa.

The cease-fire violations on the Line of Control and border in Kashmir are likely to figure in Sunday's agenda.

Of late India has started projecting Pakistan's proximity to the region's separatists.

New Delhi called off foreign secretary-level talks with Islamabad last year, citing reservations over Pakistan's engagement with Kashmiri separatists ahead of the talks.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.

Separatists in the region seek an end to New Delhi's rule and have been demanding withdrawal of troops and even made it a pre- condition for entering into formal talks with New Delhi. Endi