Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani has started preparing for his talks with the Hurriyat Conference, getting a thorough feedback about the ground situation. According to sources, talks with the separatist group would be held only after the Ramzan — still a month away. Centre’s interlocutor on J-K N.N. Vohra had an hour-long meeting with Advani, during which he is understood to have briefed the Deputy Prime Minister about the views of the local people. Home Secretary N. Gopalaswami was also present at the meeting today. Vohra, over the past few months, has held a series of talks with a cross-section of people in Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh and Leh. India, Pak can forge any reason to say ‘no’ Kolkata: ‘‘Officials both in India and Pakistan are brilliant at forging grounds to turn down proposals worked out and given by one country to the other towards resolution of conflict and a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir problem,’’ said Dr Stephen P. Cohen, American expert on US foreign policy on South Asia, at US Information Service Centre in Kolkata on Wednesday. (ENS) After the meeting, Vohra told mediapersons that they had discussed the ‘‘modalities’’ for holding talks with the Hurriyat. Sources said they also deliberated on who all to include in talks, and whether it was a good idea to keep the talks ‘‘open and broad-based’’ as the Hurriyat had demanded. The Centre had expressed willingness to talk only to Hurriyat chairman Maulana Abbas Ansari but a section within the group was asking that other factions be also included.
