Tuesday, June 21 2005 13:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Brushing aside the charge that the Government mishandled Hurriyat leaders' visit to Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has affirmed its commitment to take the Indo-Pak dialogue process forward while ensuring that India's vital interests are fully safeguarded.

Replying to a letter from former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on June 15, Singh emphasised that there was no room for ambiguity regarding India's position on Jammu and Kashmir in its discussions with Pakistan or actions.

"I have reiterated on every possible occasion that there can be no redrawing of boundaries. We have also ruled out any role for a third party -- either through intervention or as guarantor or as mediators -- in any form," he said in his letter dated June 20 to Vajpayee.

He said that India had consistently held that the dialogue with Pakistan was predicated on its commitment to end cross border terrorism, as outlined in the joint statement of Jan 6, 2004.

"The centrality of this position was recently reflected in the Joint Statement released after my meeting with President Musharraf."

With regard to the Hurriyat leaders' visit to Pakistan, he said it was not correct to state that the authorities on the Indian side had mishandled it.

By allowing the Hurriyat leaders to travel beyond Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Islamabad violated the understanding reached between the two countries on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.

Drawing Vajpayee's attention to the fact that the Hurriyat leaders have regularly met dignitaries from Pakistan visiting India as well as its diplomats in the last four or five years, the Prime Minister said that their travel to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir using Srinagar-Muzaffarabad was cleared on the basis of agreed procedures.

"That Pakistan decided to invite them to visit Islamabad and other cities in Pakistan violated an understanding on these procedures that had been reached between India and Pakistan," Singh said.

He said passports were issued to those Hurriyat leaders who did not possess it and made a request for the issue of such documents.

Noting that Hurriyat Conference was one of the groups that is outside the electoral process in Jammu and Kashmir, the Prime Minister said that nevertheless, the Government was willing to enter into dialogue with such groups provided they agree to abjure the path of violence.

"Nothing in our actions in the last twelve months has compromised our adherence to this principle," he said.

Vajpayee in his letter had said that the Indo-Pak peace process had become "Kashmir centric".

To press his point, he had cited three developments -- the prominence being given to the Hurriyat vis-a-vis the democratically elected Government in Jammu and Kashmir, the way Hurriyat visit to Pakistan was handled and the manner in which Government seemed to be allowing Pakistan to slip out of its commitments made in its Jan 6, 2004 Joint Statement.