Sinha-led delegation arrives in Valley again

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 10

A track-II delegation, led by BJP stalwart Yashwant Sinha, arrived in the region today with an aim to move forward on the dialogue process and a plan to tour and meet stakeholders outside Srinagar.

The delegation arrived in the region for the second time in recent months. The delegation said it was a continuation of the previous visit and aimed to “move forward on the dialogue process and mobilise the support” for it.

Former Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak, who along with former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah will join the delegation on Sunday, said the latest visit was “continuation by us to understand the problem and its complexities from the people who are affected”.

“In the rest of India, the Kashmir problem is not understood in its psychological and complex and historical perspective, that is heart of the problem,” Kak said.

“Our concentration now is much more outside Srinagar because last time our visit was focused on Srinagar. This time the purpose is to have a series of meetings in south and north Kashmir … the aim is to ensure that we move forward on dialogue process and mobilise the support for the dialogue process,” he said.

In its October visit, the delegation had succeeded in breaking the ice with separatists, who had earlier shut their doors to a delegation of MPs. The delegation’s first visit had remained confined to Srinagar, where they had met the mainstreamleaders and separatists.

On the first day of their latest visit, Sinha, accompanied by two members of the delegation, including the executive director of New Delhi-based Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation Sushobha Bharve, met separatist leader Aga Syed Hassan at his residence in Budgam district.

Hassan said the three members of the delegation, including Sinha met him at his residence. “I told them that dialogue between India, Pakistan and Kashmiris should be revived and it is the only way to find solution to the Kashmir issue,” Hassan said. Bharve said the delegation met Hassan “not as a Hurriyat leader but as the head of the Shia community”. “We are meeting civil society groups and we are meeting those people whom we haven’t met last time.”