Prime Minister to hold talks with Hurriyat today

New Delhi, May 3 : Prime Minister Manmohan will hold a second round of talks with a six-member moderate Hurriyat Conference delegation, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, here this evening.

The Prime Minister will seek an assurance from the separatist leaders at the meeting, held seven months after the first round of parleys on September 5 last year, regarding their participation in May 25 Kashmir roundtable in Srinagar.

The Hurriyat, on its part, will present ''fresh and concrete'' proposals to the Prime Minister at the meeting to held at Dr Singh's residence, 7 Race Course Road, at 1900 hrs.

The six-member Hurriyat delegation comprises Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Ghani Lone, Fazal Haq Qureshi and Aga Syed Hassan, besides Mirwaiz.

Dr Singh is likely to be assisted by National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, his Principal Secretary T K A Nair and Centre's interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir N N Vohra besides other officials at the meeting.

The parleys are being held against a backdrop of the massacre of 35 Hindus in separate incidents in Doda and Udhampur districts in Jammu region on Sunday and Monday, which the Hurriyat Conference Chairman termed an ''act of terrorism''.

UNI

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