Wednesday, February 22 2006 15:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party (JKDLP) led by Hashim Qureshi today (Feb 22 2006) decided to attend the round-table conference called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on February 25 to discuss Kashmir issue.

The decision was taken after the working committee of the party met in Srinagar today, its President Hashim Qureshi told sources.

Qureshi, who is the founding member of JKLF and was the first hijacker in the Asian aviation history, said his party would be attending the meeting as it firmly believed that negotiations were the only option for the resolution of Kashmir issue.

He is the first separatist leader who has responded favourably to the Prime Minister's round-table conference on the weekend after rest others including Hurriyat Conference and JKLF spurned the offer.

"We cannot understand the double standards of certain groups, who only want to talk individually and refrain from attending a round-table possibly due to their fear of exposure in gathering," Qureshi said in a veiled reference to the turning down of the offer by Hurriyat, JKLF and separatist leader Shahbir Shah.

Qureshi had hijacked Indian Airlines plane 'Ganga' in 1971 to Pakistan and had returned to India in 2001 ending his decades-old exile in Amsterdam.