Leaders of the moderate faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) met in the summer capital Srinagar to set an agenda for the September 5 meeting, the first between the separatists and Singh who took power in May 2004.

"The APHC today unanimously decided to accept the invitation for talks with a view to proceed with seriousness, imagination and courage to find an acceptable and durable solution to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir," Hurriyat spokesman Abdul Majeed Banday told reporters.

During Thursday's meeting Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, ovrall leader of the APHC moderate faction, got support from all its constituent groups for opening fresh talks with India, Bandey said.

He said the Hurriyat delegation would be led by Farooq but did not name the other members. Last year Farooq's uncle was shot dead and his house attacked by lesser-known rebel groups after he opened talks with India.

Singh called for the talks as part of a peace process with Pakistan begun in January 2004 that seeks to resolve a 60-year dispute over the state claimed by both countries.

Singh is scheduled to meet Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 14.

The Kashmiri moderates had held two rounds of talks in 2004 with the previous Hindu nationalist government.

All the top moderate separatists, including Farooq, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Abdul Gani Bhat and Bilal Lone, attended Thursday's meeting.

"Our outlook on the talks has evolved," Farooq told reporters on Wednesday. "Our thrust will be on the political dimension of the Kashmir problem. We also have proposals for improving the ground situation, like the release of prisoners and bringing an end to human rights violations."