Ex-IB chief Dineshwar Sharma appointed govt representative on Kashmir
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that Sharma will be the government's representative in Kashmir, who'll be free to decide whom to talk to.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday announced that former Director IB Dineshwar Sharma was handpicked by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to hold a dialogue with stakeholders in strife-torn of Jammu and Kashmir. Singh told reporters that a sustained dialogue will be initiated with all shades of opinion in Kashmir Valley.
This comes just days after Sushma Swaraj met Pakistan's new ambassador to India, Sohail Mahmood.
"Welcome the initiative of Union Government, appointing an interlocutor for leading a sustained dialogue with stakeholders in Jammu & Kashmir," the state's CM Mehbooba Mufti said.
Sharma, a 1976 batch Kerala cadre IPS officer, retired as director of the IB on December 31, 2016.
He will hold the the position of a Cabinet Secretary. However, on talks with separatists, Rajnath said the interlocutor will be free to decide whom to talk to.A senior officer in Jammu Kashmir said "Sharma is a seasoned man who served in the intelligence bureau in the early 1990's and has perhaps seen the worst phase. He knows the phase Kashmir is in. While there is skepticism around, there is still hope."Sharma, took charge as the interlocutor for peace talks with Assam's insurgent groups, including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).Rajnath Singh himself led an all-party delegation to the Kashmir Valley, especially after a long spell of violence, following the killing of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani.
Following his death, Singh had instituted a committee on pellet guns, to placate mounting anger.
The UPA government also formed a group of three interlocutors in 2010 to hold a sustained dialogue with all sections of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.They were noted journalist Dilip Padgaonkar, Prof. MM Ansari, Information Commissioner and Prof. (Mrs) Radha Kumar, trustee of Delhi Policy Group.
