Interlocutor will reach out to youth in South Kashmir
The Government of India’s special representative for carrying out dialogue on Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, will visit south Kashmir during his second visit this month where he will be meeting youth groups.
Sharma will be arriving to Kashmir on 26 November before meeting people in Jammu on November 24.
“I have expressed my desire that I will visit south Kashmir to meet youth there,” Sharma told.
Sources said that this time he will visit Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s home town, Anantnag, and Pulwama in south Kashmir.
_“I would like to meet youth in other districts as well. State government will be making arrangements for my visit to districts,” he told._
His visit will follow the announcement of amnesty to first time stone-pelters booked in 2016 by the centre as well as the state governments this week.
South Kashmir has been quite volatile since 2016 due to unrest after killing of Hizbul Mujahideen young commander Burhan Wani and in 2017 due to increased number of militants and counter-insurgency operations.
This year, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti visited south Kashmir’s volatile Pulwama, Anantnag and Kulgam districts during her public outreach programmes and try to regain the PDP’s lost ground.
The announcement of dialogue and this week’s amnesty to first-time stone-pelters by BJP government in New Delhi, which was keeping a hard stance on Kashmir, came as a shot in the arm for PDP.
Mehbooba said that is encouraging that the interlocutor has started on a positive note.
“His (Dineshwar Sharma’s) recommendations are being taken seriously by both the central and state government,” she said on her official twitter account.
_“This confidence building measure reaffirms the Central government’s commitment towards changing the narrative in J&K & creating a reconciliatory atmosphere for sustained dialogue,” she tweeted._
