NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold his first-ever meeting with Kashmiri separatists next week after moderates accepted his invitation for talks on the future of the divided region, his office said on Wednesday. âThe prime minister has invited the Hurriyat chairman and other leaders for talks,â said Singhâs press officer Sanjaya Baru, who added that the meeting would be held in Delhi on September 5.The leader of Hurriyatâs moderate faction, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, told AFP in Indian-Kashmirâs summer capital Srinagar that the group had not received the invitation yet but that they would attend the meeting. âWe have accepted the invitation in principle,â Farooq told AFP. âWe will discuss all aspects of the meeting tomorrow during a meeting of the working committee, executive council and the general council,â he said.
âWe had asked for the meeting at the highest level and our plea has been accepted. That is what we wanted a meeting with the prime minister,â he said.