Tuesday, February 15 2005 15:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Giving a clear hint that it was ready to resume parleys with separatist Hurriyat Conference, the Centre today (Feb 15, 2005) said it would extend a formal invitation for talks to them once they indicate their resolve to meet Home Minister Shivraj Patil to find a solution to problem in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We are ready to talk to anybody. We are not excluding anybody. All are included (in the dialogue process)," Patil told reporters in New Delhi after meeting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and senior State Congress leader Abdul Gani Vakil separately.

He was replying to a question whether the Centre would hold talks with Hurriyat, a conglomerate of several separatist groups.

Highly placed sources in New Delhi said that the Centre had already extended an open invitation to Hurriyat and all other separatist groups.

"We will extend a formal invitation to Hurriyat for talks once they indicate their resolve to meet the Home Minister," they said.

During the previous NDA (National Democratic Alliance) rule, the then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had held two rounds of talks with Hurriyat leaders last year.

The process could not continue after the Congress-led UPA Government assumed office in May last year.

Patil, who held about 30-minute meeting with Sayeed as part of the political dialogue initiated recently with various groups of Jammu and Kashmir, said he will meet several other leaders from the State in due course.

Sayeed told reporters that the dialogue process should include the separatists who had not accepted the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with the Indian Union in 1947.

He said dialogue was the only way to resolve the Kashmir problem. "I believe in the process of dialogue and the process is on," Sayeed said. Asked about the demand for autonomy to the border State, he said there were "internal dimensions" to the issue. He did not elaborate.

About his talks with the Home Minister, he said the discussions centred around general situation in the State.

"People have realised that the gun is no answer and only dialogue will lead to a solution," he said.

Patil also met a delegation of Gujjars here. He is scheduled to hold discussions with leaders of several other political and social groups over the next couple of weeks.

The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government's dialogue process started on January 17 when Patil met former Chief Minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and his son and NC president Omar Abdullah in New Delhi.