Thursday, July 7 2005 16:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: With Hurriyat Conference signalling its desire to hold talks with the Centre, consultations have begun at top Government level in this regard but officials said continuation of terror attacks could hamper the process.

A number of meetings have been held in New Delhi recently involving National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Centre's Special Representative N N Vohra and other top officers of various ministries to discuss all aspects involved in such talks, including the modalities and ramifications, official sources told sources in New Delhi today (July 7, 2005).

More meetings are expected to take place in the coming days, they said.

The process of consultations began after Hurriyat leaders, on their return from Pakistan, said they wanted to hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, they said.

"We are informally in touch with New Delhi. We have conveyed to the Government of India that we are ready to carry forward the peace process," Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said in Srinagar about 10 days back.

"It is for the Government of India to decide when and where they want to hold the talks," he said.

Officials, however, said the Government had taken a serious view of the terror attack at Ayodhya as it felt that Pakistan was not doing enough to control terrorism emanating from its soil.

"Holding talks with Hurriyat is a political decision and if such terror attacks continue, it would not be possible for the Government to go ahead and hold parleys in such an atmosphere," an official said.