Abdul Ghani Bhat, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), said the offer came verbally from a private committee backed by the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
“The Kashmir committee has given us a verbal invitation on behalf of the prime minister and deputy prime minister (Lal Krishna Advani).
“It has been told to us that they would be prepared to discuss the issue of Kashmir with us,” Bhat said after a session of the Hurriyat leadership in Srinagar.
Bhat said the invitation was conveyed by the head of the Kashmir committee, Ram Jethmalani.
The government-backed committee said the Hurriyat has agreed to a second round of discussions to be held at an unspecified date.
“The APHC has accepted the Kashmir committee’s invitation to hold a next round of talks in Delhi,” the two sides said in a joint statement after the meeting.
“The APHC has agreed to work in partnership with Kashmir committee to continue the efforts for peaceful, sincere and durable solution of Kashmir problem, which will lead to end of violence and tensions in the region.”
“Both sides agreed that the peaceful settlement of the Kashmir problem would be in the interest of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and of the south Asian region as a whole.
“The APHC would take up at the earliest the invitation extended by the prime minister and the deputy prime minister to hold talks on all matters pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir,” the joint statement said.
It was the first time since the alliance was formed in 1993 that it has met with a committee sponsored by the Indian government to open dialogue with Kashmiri separatists.
Members of the alliance either want Indian Kashmir to become part of Pakistan or become independent.
When New Delhi’s pointman on Kashmir, Krishna Chandra Pant, visited Kashmir last year to try to open a dialogue with the separatists, the Hurriyat refused to meet him.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister of Indian Kashmir Farooq Abdullah Saturday said his state government was willing to discuss the conditions that need to be met for the participation of the APHC in the state polls.
His announcement came after he met with the Indian committee.
“The (state) government was willing to discuss with APHC conditions that have to be met for their participation in the elections,” an official statement said after the meeting.
The Hurriyat has said it will not take part in the four-phased state polls which begins on Sept 16 and will only take part in elections if they are linked to a final settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
The APHC-Kashmir committee’s joint statement said they discussed the Hurriyat’s decision not to participate in the balloting.
“The committee impressed upon the APHC that the upcoming elections are historical and crucial to identify the real representatives of the people of Kashmir (and that) the representatives would be the interlocutors in talks leading to permanent settlement of the Kashmir problem.
“The APHC took a position that the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir should be ascertained through mechanism agreed upon by India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.
The joint statement labeled Saturday’s talks as “free, frank and wide-ranging.” —AFP
Jawed Naqvi adds: The seven members of the committee, led by eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani were received at the Hurriyat headquarters by the APHC chairman Abdul Gani Bhat. Jethmalani introduced him to all the members, including the editors of The Times of India and The Asian Age, both regarded as close to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Jethmalani told the reporters that Saturday was “an excellent day” for him as he had countless meetings on the day.
Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was quoted as offering to vacate his post if all separatist leaders of Kashmir were to join the Indian-sponsored polls. Jethmalani met leaders like Fazal Haque Qureshi, Hashim Qureshi, Musadiq Adil and a former militant commander Firdous Ahmed alias Babar Badar, who is now part of the ruling party National Conference.