New Delhi: The Centre on October 22 decided that Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani will talk to Hurriyat Chairman Abbas Ali Ansari on the Kashmir issue.

"The Deputy Prime Minister will meet Ansari in response to his statement of August 25, that they (Hurriyat) are interested in talks with the Centre", Home Secretary N Gopalaswami told reporters after a two-hour long meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Asked as to when the meeting between Advani and Ansari would take place, he said the dates would be decided later.


> Besides the Prime Minister, the CCS meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, Planning Commissioner Deputy Chairman K C Pant, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and Cabinet Secretary Kamal Pande.

Defence Minister George Fernandes was not present as he is away in Ukraine.

PTI