Jammu, January 27
The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, said today that after the successful round of talks with the leaders of the Hurriyat Conference, the Centre was willing to talk to any group of Kashmir which shunned violence.

Mr Advani was talking to newspersons here this evening after a visit to the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border with Pakistan.

In response to a question regarding the demand for an internal ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir, he said Vajpayee government was the first to announce a unilateral ceasefire some time ago but the experience was not a happy one. He refused to reply to further questions on the issue.

He said that terrorism and infiltration had declined in the past few days. One reason for decline in infiltration could be the snow on mountain routes, he added.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the talks had succeeded due to the desire for peace and normalcy among the people of the state and Centre’s integrity.

“All this gives us satisfaction, but we cannot afford to let down the vigil on the borders where long-term measures have been taken to check infiltration,” he said.

Mr Advani added that the invitation of the ruling PDP to Mr Vajpayee to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Srinagar indicates the level of change and confidence in the NDA government.