New Delhi: After two years of stand-off between Jammu and Kashmir and the Centre on the autonomy issue, talks between the Central interlocutor Arun Jaitley and the representative of the state government Ghulam Mohideen Shah are likely to begin in New Delhi on July 24 to discuss the issue of greater devolution of powers to the state.

Senior Home Ministry officials would be assisting Jaitley in the crucial talks with Shah, who will have some aides from the state government, sources said.

The date for holding the talks was discussed by state Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and senior ministers in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, the sources said.

The Centre notified appointment of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Arun Jaitley as Centre's representative to hold talks with the state government and political parties there on the issue of devolution of greater powers to the state on July 29.

The notification came a week after Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani announced in the Lok Sabha that Jaitley would hold discussions with J&K authorities and "other relevant groups and persons" on the issue.

While the Centre has been maintaining that the talks would be for further devolution of powers to the state government, president of National Conference (NC) Omar Abdullah said that he would not like to go into the nitty-gritty of the issue and would view the talks as on autonomy.

The state Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution for greater autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir, which was unanimously rejected by the Union Cabinet on July 4, 2000.

The Centre rejected the resolution saying that the government was willing to hold talks on devolution of more powers to the state but would not restore the pre-1953 status to Jammu and Kashmir.

However, Abdullah had clarified that the pre-1953 resolution was the basis for only holding the discussions and that the state would settle for anything if mutually agreed to by the state and the Centre.

After lobbying for nearly two years, the state government finally managed to make the Centre agree on at least holding discussions on the issue.

While organisations like Rashtriya Swayamsevk Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have maintained pressure on the Centre for not accepting any such demand of Abdullah, separatist groups including Hurriyat Conference and United Jehad Council have said the autonomy move was no solution to the Kashmir problem.

PTI