Thursday, September 1 2005 15:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Srinagar: Endorsing the decision to resume dialogue with the Centre, the moderate faction of Hurriyat conference today (Sept 1, 2005) named its chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq as leader of the delegation for talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September five.

The decision was taken at the joint meeting of the Executive Committee, General Council and Working Committee of the separatist amalgam at its headquarters here, Hurriyat Spokesman Abdul Majid Banday told reporters after the meeting.

The meeting also authorised Farooq to nominate other members of the delegation later, Banday said. The September five meeting of the Hurriyat with the Prime Minister would be its first with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and would be held nine days ahead of Manmohan Singh's scheduled meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in New York.

The amalgam had held two rounds of talks with then Dy Prime Minister L K Advani in January and March last year during the National Democratic Leader (NDA) regime. "It was unanimously decided to accept the invitation for talks by the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, with a view to proceed with seriousness, imagination and courage to find an acceptable and durable solution to issue of Jammu and Kashmir in the larger interests of the people of the region," Banday read from a prepared statement.

Although the spokesman said Mirwaiz would nominate the members of the delegation, highly placed sources said a six-member team would be flying to Delhi on September 4. Besides the four Executive Committee members Mirwaiz, Bilal Gani Lone, Abdul Gani Bhat, Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, Aga Syed Hassan and Fazl Haq Qureshi are likely to be included in the delegation to be announced tomorrow, the sources said.

Hassan, who heads the powerful Shia body Anjuman-e- Sharie-Shian, recently joined the moderate faction of Hurriyat and is likely to be inducted into the Executive Committee of the amalgam after talks with the Prime Minister, they said.

Some second rung leaders within the amalgam were also pressing for their inclusion in talks with the Prime Minister, the sources said adding, however, that there is little chance for it as the delegation has to be small.