NEW DELHI, May 21: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said he would go ahead with a visit to Srinagar this week despite an armed attack by militants on a Congress party rally there that left at least seven dead.

Dr Singh condemned the attack and offered his sympathies to the families of those killed in the daring attack.

He said such cowardly attacks would not weaken the resolve of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to seek a peaceful resolution to the problem of their region. “It is only through dialogue that a lasting solution can be found.”

Dr Singh said he was looking forward to participating in the second “roundtable meeting” on Jammu & Kashmir scheduled for May 24 and 25. However, Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told Dawn that his group was unlikely to participate in the proposed meeting.

“It is not a roundtable but more like a semi-circle,” he said. “Most of those that matter would not be there. And if India wants to talk to India’s supporters they can talk on any table of any geometrical shape.”