The joint call was agreed at a breakthrough first meeting of the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, aimed at ending a 14-year revolt against India's rule in its only Muslim-majority state.
"The (Hurriyat)... delegation stressed that an honorable and durable solution should be found through dialogue," senior Hurriyat official Abdul Ghani Bhatt told reporters, reading from the joint statement.
"It was agreed that the only way forward is to ensure that all forms of violence at all levels should come to an end," he said, adding that further talks would be held in March. However, it was not clear if Advani would attend again.
The unprecedented meeting came two weeks after India and Pakistan agreed to resume bilateral talks next month over a range of disputes, including Kashmir -- at the heart of more than five decades of enmity and the cause of two wars.
Groundbreaking talks earlier this month between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf were followed by an announcement by Musharraf on Wednesday that the bilateral talks would start in February.
The Hurriyat, a fractious grouping of two dozen political, religious and community groups, is known to have contacts with armed militants fighting Indian rule but the two do not work together and the Hurriyat has no influence over rebel tactics.
The Hurriyat has been weakened since a hardline faction supported by militants opposing talks split last year. But analysts say they are still the best bet to initiate peace moves that could later include hard-liners and militants.
"It was a good beginning, a good start," Advani told a news conference after talks with the five-member Hurriyat team that lasted more than two hours, twice as long as expected.
He said New Delhi had agreed to ensure the rights of the Kashmiri people were not violated and would also review cases of those detained by security forces in the region -- longstanding demands of the Hurriyat.
Analysts said the calm and measured statements from Hurriyat leaders and Advani mirrored a similarly cautious handling of India-Pakistan peace moves, seen as part of a strategy that does not want to hype the delicate peace bid and aims to consolidate progress.
Before Thursday's meeting, Hurriyat chairman Moulana Abbas Ansari said the alliance would press Advani to declare a truce against militants as a way of taking the peace process forward.
They said they would also seek permission to travel to Pakistan to urge militants there to end violence in Kashmir.
Neither side commented on those demands after the talks.
"If you can carry on a dialogue on these rational lines, I see a great potential," said Ram Jethmalani, head of an earlier semi-official panel that held talks with Kashmiri separatists.
However, "stray" rebel violence was expected to continue, he said.
"But you can't allow the peace process to be held hostage by isolated terrorists. Ultimately, terrorism will disappear."
