Indian PM to hold talks with pro-independence leader

NEW DELHI, Thursday, (AFP) Indian premier Manmohan Singh will hold talks at the weekend with pro-independence Kashmiri separatist Saajad Lone on the future of the disputed region, media reports said.

The talks, at Singh's invitation, will take place in New Delhi on Saturday, newspapers said, quoting official sources.

The Kashmiri leader confirmed he would attend.

"The fact that the process has started is a victory in itself. There are bound to be problems and there are bound to be speed-breakers, but it has to go on," Lone was quoted as saying by newspapers.

The invitation follows Singh's decision to meet all Kashmiri separatists from the Indian-administered zone to try to end unrest in the region after an Islamic insurgency erupted in 1989. It has claimed at least 44,000 lives since then.

In September Singh held his first direct talks with a moderate faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the main umbrella body grouping the Kashmiri separatists.

The talks followed a visit by some of its members to Pakistan in June.

The moderates held two rounds of talks with the previous Hindu nationalist government in 2004 on the future of Kashmir, but a hardline splinter group rejected any dialogue with New Delhi.