After the meeting, the Mirwaiz took some pains to point out: "We made it clear that the talks should result in a movement forward as far as Kashmir isconsidered. We have conveyed that the Centre should not see the Kashmir issue as an issue which will be solved by making someadministrative changes or changing the government."
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, Union Home Secretary V K Duggal, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister T K A Nair, Centre's pointsman for Kashmir N N Vohra, PM's special envoy on Pakistan S K Lamba and Intelligence Bureau chief E S L Narisimhan were present at the meeting. Saifuddin Soz,centre's track-II man for talks with the APHS, had met the Prime Minister ahead of themeeting for a 45-minute briefing session.
The statement issued by the PMO that "it was agreed to carry forward the dialogue process so that all regions and all shades of political opinion in J&K areinvolved," also is no more than perfunctory and predictable.The real testwould come after the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and PresidentGeneral Musharraf in New York. It is then that what the APHC has promised tobring to the table at the next meeting, viz. "specific suggestions for the honourable and durable resolution of the problem of Jammu andKashmir" would assume importance. While the PMO has announced that the talks would continue, no date has beenfixed so far.So much would depend on what is coyly called the back-channeldiplomacy route.