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The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference said on Monday that it had 'no problems' in holding talks with the Kashmir Committee headed by former law minister Ram Jethmalani, but ruled out any possibility of participating in the forthcoming assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir.
"My good wishes are with them and I have no problems in holding talks with them as they are renowned intellectuals of the country and the initiative is purely in their individual capacity and the government has nothing to do with it," Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat said in New Delhi.
Jethmalani had told reporters on Sunday that the Hurriyat "did not have enough time for arranging the logistics ( for the polls)".
Bhat rejected any proposal to take part in the polls, saying, "This is an irrelevant exercise. We have made it clear that we will not participate in the polls and the issue no longer exists for us."
"I think (the) sensible people of India, Pakistan, and Kashmir should join together and move together for resolving the issue which has been eating into the vitals of both the countries," he said.
He also said the countries "should realise that they have to shun the beaten tracks of the past and work for a better tomorrow by engaging in a fruitful dialogue".
Jethmalani said "he [Bhat] had deputed the Hurriyat's Delhi-based spokesman Abdul Majid Bandey to attend the maiden meeting of the Committee".
But Bhat said he had not deputed anyone for the meeting. "He [Bandey] must have attended it in his personal capacity or on an invitation from the committee members," Bhat said.
The Kashmir Committee was formed on Sunday with Jethmalani as its chairman and Supreme Court advocate Ashok Bhan as its convenor.
The other members are former law minister Shanti Bhushan, The Times of India editor Dileep Padgaonkar, freelance journalist Jawid Laiq, retired Indian Foreign Service officer V K Grover, eminent lawyer Fali Nariman and The Asian Age editor M J Akbar.
Meanwhile, senior separatist leader Shabir Shah also welcomed the formation of the committee and said he would look upon any invitation for talks positively.
Shah, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, said the committee should rope in as many separatists to find a meaningful and everlasting solution to the Kashmir problem as possible.
The Indian and Pakistani governments should allow the Kashmir committees on both sides of the border to interact and help evolve a solution for lasting peace in the state, he added.
Pakistan has also formed a committee on Kashmir, which is headed by Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, former 'president' of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage
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