New Delhi | Dec 06, 2010
Leaders of a number of political parties including those from Jammu and Kashmir are set to form a committee to build pressure on the government to engage in dialogue the separatists, including hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. This comes after an 11-member delegation of Parliamentarians and civil society members comprising Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan and senior CPI leader D Raja returned completing a "fact-finding" tour of the Valley earlier this month.
"A committee, which will also include leaders from Kashmir, will be formed. The aim of the committee would be to build pressure on government to engage in dialogue the separatists including Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani," a senior leader, which was part of the delegation and is now spearheading the move, told PTI. The committee will also seek to build a public opinion "at national level" on the issue of Kashmir, he said.
The names of the political leaders, which are to be part of the committee, are yet to be finalised, he said adding that a meeting of leaders of various political parties will be convened shortly. The 11-member Parliamentarian-civil society members' delegation had met several separatist leaders, including Geelani, moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik in the Valley during its tour which began on December 3.
LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, who as part of the delegation had met Geelani, said that there was "massive" resentment among the "people of Kashmir over the way the government is handling their problems." "It sent an all-party delegation to the Valley to meet people when the situation was volatile. And now it has become inactive again," he said.
"On the basis of the experiences during the tour, an action plan has been formulated to bring the issue of Kashmir in focus in order to bring peace in the Valley," he added. The LJP president also expressed dissatisfaction with the appointment and functioning of three interlocutors appointed by the Centre for holding talks with all shades of opinion. "There is no political representative in the group and they have not been able to take the Kashmiri leadership on board. There is massive resentment among the people of Kashmir in this regard," he said.
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