Srinagar: Welcoming Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's statement inviting Pakistan to walk with India on the road to peace, Hurriyat Conference on August 16 demanded inclusion of people of Kashmir in the talks aimed at resolving the long-standing Kashmir issue.

"The Prime Minister's statement from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the country's Independence Day was positive and we welcome it. We want New Delhi and Islamabad to include Kashmiris in the talks while addressing the Kashmir issue," Hurriyat Conference chairman Moulvi Mohammad Abbass Ansari said.

"We support resolution of the Kashmir issue through meaningful and result-oriented dialogue, which is possible only by including the people of Kashmir in the process," he said.

Calling for putting an end to the border shelling, Ansari said Kashmiris living on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) are being killed in the shelling.

"We want an end to the killings, whether on the borders or in the valley. We want peaceful solution to the long-standing problem so that peace can return to the sub-continent," he said.

Hailing the statement of state Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed calling for dialogue with separatists, he said "we are the sons of the soil and cannot be ignored. Only meaningful dialogue, in accordance to the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir can lead to the solution of the Kashmir issue."

PTI