Thursday, March 3 2005 12:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jammu: The Hurriyat Conference has started an "internal dialogue" with the Kashmiri Pundit leadership to facilitate their return to the Valley in the backdrop of the peace talks between India and Pakistan.

The dialogue has been initiated by Hurriyat as part of the "internal dialogue" between different regions and communities of the State to ascertain views and find a "mutually acceptable solution" to the Kashmir issue, as also to facilitate the return of Pundits to their homes, Democratic Freedom Party president and Hurriyat contact committee in charge Syed Salim Geelani said in Jammu.

"As a part of this process, we have already started talking to Kashmiri Pundit leaders in Jammu who had to leave their homes in the Valley for one or other reason," he said adding that the senior Hurriyat leadership would hold discussions with Kashmiri Pundit leaders in Jammu next month (April 2005), followed by another meeting at Srinagar.

Geelani said that the view of all sections of Jammu and Kashmir were necessary at arriving at a broader consensus and Hurriyat believed that a solution to the Kashmir tangle lay in triangular talks among representatives of India, Pakistan and the people of the State.

It was with this objective that the Hurriyat had begun the internal dialogue and to facilitate the ongoing peace process between the two neighbouring countries, he added.