Interlocutors have helped engage Kashmiris -Governance Now

Interlocutors have helped engage Kashmiris

Like his predecessors, Dineshwar Sharma would also keep Kashmir’s civil society engaged in thinking and talking about the peace process

Aasha Khosa | November 7, 2017 | New Delhi

#Dineshwar Sharma #Hurriyat conference #peace process #interlocutors #Kashmir #Mehbooba Mufti

Dineshwar Sharma (left) with union home minister Rajnath Singh, after being appointed as the Representative of Government of India to initiate dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir

Hoping that former bureaucrat and Kashmir hand Dineshwar Sharma would be able to bring peace to Kashmir is certainly a tall order. However, like all the interlocutors in the past, he too would keep sections of Kashmiri society engaged in thinking and talking about peace and reconciliation and generate an environment that the leaders can possibly build upon.

Sharma has apparently been handpicked for his good rapport with locals while heading the intelligence bureau (IB) in Kashmir during the years of volatility. As the former head of IB, A S Dullat, revealed in his book, the Hurriyat leaders had been on the payrolls of the intelligence agency and therefore the bigwig out there would obviously have a good reach to them.

Though the Hurriyat Conference leaders have publically declared they would not talk to Sharma, who is currently in Srinagar on his maiden visit as interlocutor, there is a possibility of the separatist leaders getting in touch with him either through their proxies or by simply calling him on phone. Such tactics have been used in the past too.

One of the main tasks of Sharma is to find out the mood in the second rung of separatist leaders and find out if they are ready to break the ranks and come forward to hold meaningful negotiations with the government.

Interestingly, the opposition parties - Congress and National Conference - and even lone wolf like MLA Engineer Rashid, who is facing a probe by the National Investigating Agency into terror fund trail in Kashmir, have dismissed Sharma as a lightweight to be talked to. So, who will Sharma speak to in Kashmir?

Going by the experience of the past government-appointed interlocutors – K C Pant, N N Vohra and the interlocutors’ committee comprising former journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, academic Radha Kumar and retired bureaucrat M M Ansari, Sharma too would talk and talk to traders, tourism operators, transporters, hoteliers who are worst victims of violence. On the political level, leaders would send their deputies to speak to him, for Sharma does not match their stature. All of them would on the record insist the government should talk to Hurriyat Conference leaders.

Sharma would also visit the relatively peaceful regions of Jammu and Ladakh and speak to the representatives of the displaced Kashmiri Hindus to widen the base of conflict resolution. This would also help in not limiting any conflict resolution to the aspirations of a section of vocal Kashmiri Muslims.

Sources in the home ministry have indicated that the center is not too keen to talk to Hurriyat leaders and would continue investigations against them. This is against the wishes of BJP- supported chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who has wished the probe against the Hurriyat leaders would be suspended for a meaningful dialogue.

Comments

Other News

Some people’s misdoings can’t put BARC under spotlight: Shashi Sinha

As the Broadcast Audience Research Council comes under a cloud, the chairperson of its technical committee and a media veteran, Shashi Sinha, has argued that it is one of the best systems of its kind in the world. Sinha said that such an industry body where the board is governed by stakehold

Why you should not be afraid of Corona

When my water bag broke, at age 24, I excitedly woke my parents and said let’s go to the nursing home, in Mumbai, to have my first baby because I could not wait to get back home to my hubby in Bahrain. Of course, I was totally unprepared. And it turned out to be the turning point of my understanding

Reopening: Old guidelines extended to November

As the Covid-19 situation continues to improve in India, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has decided to continue the Guidelines for Reopening, which have already done away with nearly all of Lockdown restrictions in areas outside the containment zones. The MHA issued an order Monday and e

India records lowest new cases in three months

After a scare in September with the number of daily fresh cases inching above 90,000, India seems to have gone down the peak, with several key parameters giving cause for relief just in time for the annual festive season. The new confirmed cases in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning have fallen below 36,500 (

India’s case fatality rate lowest since Janata curfew

The annual festive season has brought good news for India: the country’s case fatality ratio has gone down to touch 1.5 percent, and the number of deaths per day has dipped below 500 in the 24 hours to Monday morning – bringing the situation closer to the number before the lockdown was imposed

“Script is the real hero”

Basking in the success of the new web series, ‘Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story ’,on SonyLIV, the OTT platform from Sony stable where the lead actors are new faces, NP Singh, MD and CEO of Sony Pictures Networks, has said that the script is the new hero. He credited the s