JAMMU, India Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said on Sunday his government was drawing up an agenda for peace talks with a Kashmiri separatist group.
"What should be the ambit of these talks is being worked out at present," Fernandes told reporters in Jammu, winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir State, where the Hizbul Mujahideen separatist group announced a ceasefire last month.
Home (interior) Ministry officials held their first talks with Hizbul commanders on Thursday, and the 3,500-strong Muslim group's representatives are believed to have held a meeting with army officials on Saturday to discuss truce enforcement details.
But the moves towards peace received a big jolt on Tuesday, when guerrillas killed nearly 100 civilians, including 22 Hindu pilgrims, in Kashmir's worst night of violence since the start of the rebellion.
India blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba for Tuesday's attacks and accused Islamabad of orchestrating violence in the Kashmir Valley.
(Reuter)