India sends ex-spy to IOK for talks

Former IB director Dineshwar Sharma may speak to APHC if he wants, Home Minister Rajnath Singh says

NEW DELHI: India on Monday named a former chief of domestic intelligence to lead talks in Jammu and Kashmir, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi moves to defuse tension that has simmered in the occupied territory since July last year.

Dineshwar Sharma, a former director of India’s Intelligence Bureau, will hold talks with groups ranging from elected representatives to political parties and other organisations, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters.

“As a representative of the government of India, Sharma will initiate a sustained interaction and dialogue to understand the legitimate aspirations of the people in Jammu and Kashmir,” Singh said.

As a Representative of GOI Shri Sharma will initiate a sustained interaction &dialogue to understand legitimate aspirations of ppl in J&K:HM

— गृहमंत्री कार्यालय, HMO India (@HMOIndia) October 23, 2017

Modi’s government has so far shunned talks with the main Kashmiri leadership – the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

Asked if Sharma would talk to the APHC leaders, Singh said he would be free to “talk to whoever he wants to”.

Hundreds of civilians have died in protests sparked after security forces killed a young Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani last year. In July, India’s federal counter-terrorism agency arrested seven Hurriyat members on charges of receiving funds from Pakistan to wage attacks.

The occupied state’s former chief minister, Omar Abdullah, welcomed the news as a victory over those advocating the use of force to tackle the insurgency, but warned the scope of the talks would be key to their success.

“One can’t get everything so for now we’ll take what we can get,” he said on social network Twitter. “More important than the person is the mandate and absence of pre-conditions.”

One can’t get everything so for now we’ll take what we can get. More important than the person is the mandate & absence of pre-conditions. https://t.co/DWmRbeaine

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 23, 2017

Sharma, 63, retired as the Intelligence Bureau director in December. According to an Indian media report, he was called in for a meeting with Singh on Monday which was also attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

Sharma told an Indian newspaper that he would visit Kashmir in about a week. “For a substantive dialogue, I will need to talk to everybody,’’ he said. “Peace must be restored in Kashmir and for that I will talk to all people in an effort to bring about a solution.”