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Shah hopeful of meeting Vajpayee

"Advani says in Parliament that he is willing to talk to anyone to resolve the Kashmir issue and now he is says he will not meet us," the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party told reporters in New Delhi on his arrival from Srinagar.

Advani had refused to meet Shah, during the latter's visit to Delhi for the second round of talks with the Kashmir Committee.

"I am not here on Advani's invitation," Shah said. "The meeting with the committee will be to hammer out a solution to the Kashmir problem."

Shah will lead a nine-member delegation to the meeting with the committee on August 29.

In a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, he said he was not interested in talking to those who were unwilling to take responsibility for the Gujarat riots or the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

He said rejection of the offer to hold talks with separatist leaders had made it evident who was causing impediments in the way of bringing about peace in Jammu & Kashmir.

Shah said his party was not averse to receiving a formal invitation from Vajpayee. "If such a meeting takes place," he said, "we will present our case and let the prime minister convince us with his case. If we are convinced, we have no problems."

He said they had high expectations from Vajpayee and he is the 'only ray of hope' for Kashmiris.

Referring to the forthcoming election in the state, Shah said he was firmly sticking to his earlier stand of not participating without any formal dialogue preceding it.

On being reminded that the election process had already started and there was hardly any time left, he said, "It would be better that [Chief Minister] Farooq Abdullah is given an extension for another six years rather than have this drama of elections."

PTI

Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage

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