NEW DELHI: Government should hold talks with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir including separatists at the earliest besides taking other measures including ban on use of pellet guns and rehabilitation package for those injured in the unrest, a report by a group led by BJP leader Yashwant Sinha recommends.
The delegation visited Kashmir Valley last month and met different stakeholders including separatist leaders during their three-day stay in the valley.
The visiting group consisted of Yashwant Sinha (Former External Affairs Minister) Wajahat Habibullah (Former Chief Information Commissioner and former Chairman of National Minorities Commission), Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Kapil Kak, Bharat Bhushan (Editor, Catchnews) and Sushobha Barve(Executive Program Director of Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation – CDR)
The delegation released the report on Monday to the media and spoke about the nature of meetings it held with separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and other mainstream politicians.
The delegation has cited many reasons for immediate anger including the excessive use of force by security forces, use of pellet guns, night-time raids by security forces, misuse of Public Safety Act (PSA), attacks on Kashmiris outside J&K.
The report was released by Programme Director of Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation Sushobha Barve, who was part of the delegation. It said Geelani and Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq “talked of being prepared for an unconditional dialogue” and it was not within the competence of the group of citizens to suggest “when or if such a dialogue process should be started”.
“However, what we would like to emphasise is that we noted an overwhelming sentiment amongst the Kashmiris we interacted with for setting up a permanent process of dialogue with New Delhi.
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