The national conference on Sunday said it has no hopes from the interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma’s interlocution in strife torn Jammu and Kashmir and that the party is apprehensive that his findings too would meet the fate similar to that of the previous working group reports.
“Tell us a reason why someone should feel euphoric about Sharma’s visits to Jammu and Kashmir. We have no hopes that such an exercise would yield the results of any sort as the previous visits of interlocutors and working groups haven’t been fruitful and didn’t contribute least in the betterment of the situation on ground,” NC’s Provincial President, Nasir Aslam Wani told KNS.
He added that the previous interlocutors too conducted extensive visits and meet people from all regions of the state. However, Nasir says, their observations and findings are gathering dust at the MHA.
Nasir was referring to the announcement made by the government of India in October 2010, appointing senior journalist Dileep Padgoankar, academic Radha Kumar, and former Information Commissioner M.M Ansari as interlocutors pacify the Kashmir situation. The trio spent a year in and met more than 700 delegations from all 22 districts in the state. The committee had recommended reduction in the number of armed forces in Valley, human rights violations be urgently addressed, and the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act be reviewed. “All these suggestions were duly ignored by New Delhi and why not to have a re-look on those suggestions first instead of appointment a new man for the mission,” NC leader added.
He maintained further that the party has no hopes from the present exercise as it would have been imperative for the government of India to get the previous reports off shelves and see what suggestions were given by those committees and working groups. Pertinently, Sharma is on his second JK visit and this time he is meeting people from the militancy infested south Kashmir region that has been witnessing spike in violent protests since the killing of Burhan Wani last year.