The Centre’s representative on Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, will arrive here on Monday on his third visit to the state for holding talks with all stakeholders and to find ways for restoration of peace in the trouble-torn region.
The interlocutor told Kashmir Post over phone from New Delhi that he would be arriving in the summer capital to meet various delegations. The groups scheduled to meet him, however, are yet to be finalised.
Sharma had met people from a cross-section of society in both Kashmir and Jammu divisions during his two visits last month. He first visited J&K for a week from November 6 and later for another week from November 24, after his appointment on October 23.
The Central government’s special representative so far has not been successful in meeting main separatist leaders, who had refused to hold talks with him. “I will try my best to meet Hurriyat leaders,” Sharma had said during one of his earlier visits. He has recommended sustained talks with separatists and Pakistan to pave way for permanent peace in the region.
During his last visit, Sharma is reported to have met senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Bhat, a member of the Mirwaiz (moderate) Hurriyat Conference. The Hurriyat leadership, which has formed a Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) led by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, has stayed away from meeting the Centre’s representative.
On Sharma’s recommendations, the J&K Government has already started the process of offering general amnesty to nearly 4,500 “first-time offenders” (stone throwers), sending a positive signal among the Valley’s youth. Most of these “first-time offenders” had been involved in stone-throwing incidents during the 2016 Kashmir unrest.
On his second visit last month, Sharma also visited south Kashmir, which was the epicentre of last year’s unrest following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani. He met various delegations of youth in Anantnag and Pulwama districts to learn about their problems, many of whom had sought withdrawal of cases against the first-time offenders.
Yet to meet Hurriyat leadership
On Dineshwar Sharma’s recommendations, the J&K Government has already started the process of offering general amnesty to nearly 4,500 “first-time offenders” (stone throwers), sending a positive signal among the Valley’s youth
The interlocutor, however, has so far not been successful in meeting main separatist leaders, who had refused to hold talks with him
Interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma’s third visit begins on Monday
