New Delhi: Centre on August 24 said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will not "shy away" from meeting anybody when he visits Kashmir on August 27, but asked separatists, including Hurriyat, to first talk to New Delhi's interlocutor N N Vohra for "purposeful and fruitful" process.

"The Prime Minister is going to Srinagar. He will not shy away from meeting anybody there," Minister of state for Home I D Swami said amid reported comments of new Hurriyat chief Maulana Abbas Ansari that the separatist organisation was ready to talk to the Centre giving up the condition of trilateral talks involving Pakistan.

Swami said the government was ready to talk to everybody, even militant outfits like Hizbul Mujahideen, provided they shun violence.

"The government's stand remains that it will talk to everyone who shun violence and air their grievances and say what they want in the benefit of Jammu and Kashmir and its people peacefully," he said.

Welcoming Ansari's remarks, the minister said it indicated a positive shift in Hurriyat's thinking, which is in the benefit of the state and its peace-yearning people.

The Minister, however, said the Hurriyat and any other separatist groups should present their views first to Vohra, "who is Centre's official nominee to hold talks", for better forward movement of dialogue process.

PTI