The Centre can issue a written invitation to the All Parties Hurriyat Conference to hold talks with Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Minister of State for Home Affairs I D Swami told rediff.com
Hurriyat chairman Maulvi Abbas Ansari had told rediff.com on Monday the amalgam was ready to hold talks, but there was nothing in writing from the Government of India.
"Frankly the deputy prime minister's statement that he is ready to hold talks with the Hurriyat Conference leaders should be seen as an invitation by the Hurriyat leaders to come to Delhi for talks. But if they still insist on an invitation in writing I suppose the same could be sent on behalf of the Government of India," Swami said.
Asked if the Hurriyat leadership was trying to wriggle out of the talks after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met in Islamabad on the sidelines of the SAARC summit, Swami said, "I feel they are trying to get more time in the hope that the breakaway faction of the APHC would also join hands with them to hold talks with the Centre."
"I do not think they would like to miss the opportunity of holding talks with Advaniji because they had been all along insisting that government should hold political level talks with them on Kashmir," he added.