NEW DELHI, Oct 7: The head of the officially-encouraged Kashmir Committee, seeking to bring all the parties in the conflict together for a peaceful resolution to the problem in the Himalayan region, said on Monday that he now had the approval of the United States in the mission and the two plan to work together.

Star News quoted former minister and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani as saying after a meeting with US Ambassador Robert Blackwill in New Delhi: “We had a clearer understanding of each other and resolved to work in coordination in future.”

Jethmalani said that Washington appreciated the efforts of the Kashmir Committee and added that the US had a healthy interest in ensuring a durable solution to the vexed issue to avoid “a nuclear holocaust”.

Asked about the elections in the state, he said, “We hope the government will keep its promise to talk to the representa-tives of the people after the polls and also to those who did not participate in the elections.

Meanwhile the head of Kashmir’s pro-India ruling National Conference accused Jethmalani of seeking to subvert his party’s government there.

National Conference president Omar Abdullah said his party will have no contacts with the committee in the future.

“NC has decided to have no further contact or association with the Jethmalani Committee because it has proved itself to be a Congress political committee,” Omar said.—JN