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Hurriyat welcome to Delhi for talks, says Advani
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 28
Stating that no talks were possible here, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani today told the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders that they were welcome to New Delhi for a dialogue with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and him.

In reply to a question, Mr Advani said formal talks could be held with the APHC leaders.

Later, the Deputy Prime Minister explained that while he and the Prime Minister were ready to meet the separatist leaders, main talks would be held by the Centre’s interlocutor, Mr N.N. Vohra.

When asked if the terrorist attack here yesterday and call for bandh by the separatists was a setback to the dialogue process, Mr Advani said that they did affect the process adversely as India had been consistently saying that a conducive atmosphere had to be built before the dialogue could begin.

Cross-border terrorism must cease and terrorist infrastructure should be dismantled, Mr Advani told Pakistan, stressing that despite some confidence building measures taken by the two sides, terrorist attacks affected the process adversely.

The Centre was ready to talk with anyone who shunned violence and abandoned the path of militancy, Mr Advani said.

Asked if the Centre was ready to open Uri-Rawalpindi road, the Deputy Prime Minister said that “We will think over it when a formal proposal comes to us”.

Mr Advani said the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was responsible for last night’s Fidayeen attack here in which six persons, including an MLC and two militants, were killed.

“It was unfortunate that the Lashkar-e-Toiba resorted to militant operations which resulted in the death of MLC Javid Hussain Shah,” Mr Advani told mediapersons at the end of the two-day Inter-State Council meeting here.