Former director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Dineshwar Sharma will be the central government's representative to initiate dialogue with all stakeholders
A sustained dialogue will be initiated by the government to find a solution to the Kashmir issue, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said yesterday.
The initiative has been taken as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day address, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said. Pic/PTI
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Addressing a hurriedly-convened press conference, Singh said former director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Dineshwar Sharma would be the central government's representative to initiate dialogue with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sharma, a 1979-batch (retired) officer of the Indian Police Service, served as the IB director between December, 2014 and 2016. Sharma will decide whom he wants to hold talks with, Singh said when asked whether he would have dialogue with the Hurriyat Conference.
"The Centre has shown conviction and consistency on Kashmir issue and carrying forward this policy, we have decided to begin a sustained dialogue policy for Jammu and Kashmir.
"And for this we have decided to appoint Dineshwar Sharma as special representative of the Government of India," Singh told reporters.
The initiative has been taken as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day address, the home minister said.
The prime minister's Independence Day statement that problems in the state could be solved "neither by bullet, nor by abuses but by embracing the people" clearly underlined the government's policy and intentions, he said.
Singh said the prime minister had held a series of meetings with political representatives on the Kashmir issue. "All of them were clear that the process of dialogue should begin in the Valley," he said.
'Realists' prevail over 'hawks'
The Congress said that the Centre appointing a representative to initiate dialogue with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir indicated that "realists" in the government had prevailed over "hawks".
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