New Delhi: Ahead of the maiden visit of Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to Jammu and Kashmir to "understand" the ground situation, Government today (Nov 2, 2004) made it clear that it was not averse to talking to any group in Kashmir.

"We (Patil) are going to the State to understand the ground situation, the problems of ordinary civilians, Armed Forces and others," Minister of State Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters after a high-level meeting called by Patil to finalise his three-day visit to the State from Nov 6, 2004. "But if anyone wants to talk with us, we will not hesitate in talking," he said.

Asked whether any formal invitation had been extended to Hurriyat Conference ahead of Patil's visit, Jaiswal said, "There is already an open-ended invitation. We have already made it clear that we are willing to talk to anyone unconditionally. The response from Hurriyat is yet to come."

Patil said he would be going to the State to meet a cross-section of people including Armed Forces and would also visit bordering areas.

While he was carrying no new proposals during the visit, he said it was important to keep the momentum of ongoing peace process. "I am willing to meet anyone who wants to meet me".

The meeting was attended among others by Centre's pointsman on talks on Kashmir N N Vohra, Union Home Secretary Dhirendra Singh, Special Secretary Anil Chowdhry, Chiefs of BSF (Border Security Force), CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) Ajairaj Sharma, J K Sinha, K J Singh respectively and Vice Chief of Army Staff S Choudhury besides senior officials from intelligence agencies.