NEW DELHI, Aug 28: Kashmiri leaders have agreed to travel to New Delhi this week for talks with a semi-official Indian team that may lead to meetings with key ministers, the head of the team said on Wednesday.

Kashmir committee head Ram Jethmalani, a former Indian law minister, said he was also confident of persuading at least one key Kashmiri leader to contest elections in occupied Kashmir next month.

Jethmalani, whose team was authorized by powerful Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani, will meet President Abdul Kalam to enlist his aid in setting up talks between the Kashmiris and Indian ministers, including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

“Let me see what we can do with the president,” he said.

Shabir Shah, a prominent leader who has spent 20 years on-and-off in jail for fighting Indian rule in the held state, arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday.

He will be followed by leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

It is the first time APHC leaders will have travelled to New Delhi for discussions with a government-backed group.

Sources close to the committee believe it is making good progress and is likely to at least set up a meeting soon between the APHC and Defence Minister George Fernandes.

The Hurriyat Conference has vowed to boycott the election, but Jethmalani was confident some would change their minds.

“Shabir Shah...is on the brink of accepting participation,” he said. “I hope the meetings today and tomorrow will pave the way for it.”

The committee also wants day-to-day running of the held state of 10 million handed over to the independent governor during campaigning and voting to help ensure free and fair elections and encourage moderates to run.

“No honest person can deny that from ’87 onwards, the elections have been rigged,” Jethmalani said. “I think the government of India owes it to the people, and they owe it to themselves...that they should ensure free and fair polls.”

It was a widely discredited poll in 1987 that turned simmering resentment against Indian rule into a freedom movement.

The next and last election, in 1996, was also dogged by accusations of rigging and stoked further opposition.

POLL DELAY LIKELY: Although nominations for the first round of voting on Sept 16 close on Thursday, Jethmalani said he believed the Indian government may yet delay the election and impose governor’s rule if the APHC showed signs of wanting to contest.