India remains open to negotiate with Kashmiri separatists
Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani said yesterday he and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee still had an 'open mind' about meeting separatist Kashmiri Muslim leaders after a prominent pro-India legislator was killed by Muslim insurgents in Srinagar.
At least five people, including lawmaker Javed Shah, died while seven were wounded in a fierce gun battle that ended the siege of a hotel where Shah was staying.
Mr Advani made it clear that any meeting with separatist leaders should not be construed as the beginning of a 'formal dialogue process'.
Mr Advani warned Pakistan, which supports the Kashmiri rebel groups, that if armed attacks continued, it could stall the process of normalising relations with India. 'The dialogue process [with Pakistan] has suffered a serious setback due to the terrorist strike,' he said.
He noted that the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a radical Islamic group based in Pakistan, had claimed responsibility for the latest attacks in Srinagar. It occurred a few kilometres from the convention centre where Mr Vajpayee, Mr Advani and other Indian leaders were participating in a conference with chief ministers from Indian states.
The daring suicide attack by two armed insurgents killed Shah, his bodyguard and one other person in the office of the newspaper Watan, which is owned by Shah. He had long been on the hit list of rebel groups.
