Dineshwar Sharma, Special Representative of the Union government, concluded his five-day visit to Jammu & Kashmir on Friday, saying he would visit the State again and again.
Mr. Sharma, who has failed to engage the Hurriyat so far, described his visit as “fruitful”. “This was my first visit to the State and I will be visiting Jammu and Kashmir again and again. Every Indian in J&K is a stakeholder of this dialogue process,” Mr. Sharma said.
On the question of engaging the separatists, Mr. Sharma said he was hopeful of meeting the Hurriyat next time.
Ved Mahajan, general secretary of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, also met Mr. Sharma. “The PDP delegation reiterates the party’s resolve that dialogue is a necessity of the hour,”a party spokesman said.
Hardline Hurriyat leader Aga Syed Hasan Almosvi Alsafvi said the initiative “will become meaningful only when he expands the circle of dialogue”.
Mr. Alsafvi told The Hindu that dialogue was the best way to resolve the Kashmir issue if India was serious about it. “So far, the initiative of [appointing Sharma] is not serious. It should not be like past initiatives on dialogue. All stakeholders, including Pakistan, should be brought on board and engaged with,” he said.
Engaging all
Asked if the Hurriyat opposed engaging the Special Representative, he said: “If all stakeholders are engaged, there should be no issue.”
Mr. Sharma met 36 delegations, including traders’ bodies, lawyers and journalists in Jammu. Among them were representatives of several Kashmiri Pandit organisations. In a joint memorandum, they sought the setting up of an institutional mechanism for the welfare of the displaced community. The delegation was led by BJP legislator G.L. Raina.
(With PTI inputs)
