M A I N   N E W S

PM invites Hurriyat for talks
Dialogue without Pak useless, says Bhat

Srinagar, May 23
Ruling out the involvement of Pakistan in talks on the Jammu and Kashmir issue, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said his government was open to discussions with all legitimate groups, including the All-Party Hurriyat Conference to bring about peace and development in the state.

He said the demand in some quarters that Pakistan should be involved in the talks “is what that is creating problem.”

He said the government was ready to talk with Kashmiri groups and certain rounds of dialogue had already taken place under Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K.C. Pant, the Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir.

He said the Hurriyat had been invited by Mr Pant, but they did not come. “I am inviting them again.”

“The dialogue will continue. Leaders of some groups whom I could not meet here can meet me in Delhi. I can come to Kashmir again,” the Prime Minister told a news conference winding up his three-day tour of the state in the midst of Indo-Pak border tension.

Meanwhile, rejecting Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s offer of talks, the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) today said any dialogue on the Kashmir issue was “useless” without Pakistan’s involvement, a report from New Delhi said.

“We are ready to talk to the Prime Minister provided he accepts the principle of involving Pakistan in the talks,” Hurriyat Chairman Prof Abdul Gani Bhat told UNI from Srinagar.

“Mr Vajpayee does not accept the principle. The government of India is pursuing with its rigid stance,” he added.

Prof Bhat said talking to Mr Vajpayee or Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf individually will not resolve the issue.

“Talking to them separately will take us nowhere. We are not going to reach anywhere”.

He said economic and other packages “can not hijack the real issue”.

Asked if they had been invited for a meeting with the Prime Minister, the Hurriyat Chairman said they were not approached. UNI