Manmohan Singh invites Sajjad Lone for talks on Kashmir

NEW DELHI: Broadening the dialogue process in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited People's Conference chief Sajjad Lone for talks on Kashmir issue on Saturday.

Lone, younger son of assasinated separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone, has been asked to come for talks with the Prime Minister on weekend, official sources said.

The talks with Lone, who broke away from his brother Bilal Lone last year, follow the Prime Minister's decision to meet every separatist leader from Jammu and Kashmir to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.

"We convened a meeting of the working committee after which a decision has been taken that a five-member delegation of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference will meet the Prime Minister," Lone told reporters from Srinagar immediately after the meeting ended.

The party terms the move from the Centre as "positive" and would emphasise on identification of other parties and individuals necessary for an inclusive Kashmir participation, he said.

The working committee authorised party's vice chairman Sheikh Bashir Ali to nominate the other four members of the team, to be headed by Lone, on Thursday.

The Prime Minister had held talks with Hurriyat Conference on September five last year during which certain measures to prevent human rights violations were discussed.

However, there was no invitation to the amalgam leaders for the second round of talks so far, the sources said.

They also confirmed that back channel talks were on with other separtist leaders of Jammu and Kashmir to come forward for talks.