KupwaraDeclining to share any details with the media, New Delhis peace interlocutor on Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma Monday said that he wanted to keep media out of his business whilst his stay in Kashmir.
Sharma decided not to talk to media during his third visit to Kashmir Valley even as he claimed he was going in the right direction.
Earlier media professionals were allegedly barred from covering his activities as he visited the frontier district of Kupwara on Monday afternoon.
“We were not allowed to go inside the Dak Bungalow, said Shameem Ahmad, a local Zee media reporter. His first visit to this border district is significant but we were not allowed to cover the proceedings.”
Similarly, reporters representing various newspapers and news agencies were denied permission to cover the event.
A host of delegations from across the district were lined up at Dak Bungalow Kupwara to interact with Sharma, who is on the third visit to Jammu and Kashmir since he was appointed to explore possibilities of peace building in the trouble-torn region of Jammu and Kashmir.
Sharma, however, refuted the allegations that journalists at Dak Bungalow were debarred from meeting him.
A number of Journalists entered into my room requesting a photo shoot. I obliged. To claim that I refused to meet any journalist is baseless. They after clicking my photographs left the room, Sharma said.
I interacted with a couple of delegations today. I will not share any details, he said.
Sharma however, added he is going in right direction. I cant say to whom I am planning to meet. As I want to keep media out of this, he said.
Sharma is scheduled to meet at least 40 delegations from across the district including border town Machil and Karnah.
New Delhi appointed Dineshwar Sharma who is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau as its interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir in October this year. Sharma, an old Kashmir hand in the countrys internal intelligence agency, was expected to talk with all stakeholders in a bid to resolve the Kashmir imbroglio.
While the members of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) have declined to hold any parleys with Sharma so far, many delegations have met him during his first and second visit to the State.
Separatists while calling the Centres initiative a wasteful activity have alleged the entire exercise as a time buying tactics to hoodwink the international community on Kashmir.
Immediately after his appointment, the JRL comprising Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chief Yaseen Malik, in a joint statement had said they would not engage in parleys with the former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma.
Sharma, during his previous visits, had expressed hope that he would be able to meet the separatist leaders but to no avail.
The events during his second visit took an interesting turn when a senior Hurriyat leader, Abdul Gani Bhat expressed his willingness to talk to Sharma.
Bhat is part of Hurriyat led by Mirwaiz, however, since the trio joined hands in 2016, most of the constituents of Mirwiaz led Huriyat including Bhat’s Muslim Conference, have stayed away from its public functions or core group meetings.
He had managed to meet at least two Hurriyat leaders during his second visit to Kashmir last week when he drove to the residence-cum-office of Abdul Gani Bhat in WazirBagh Srinagar on November 27 in Srinagar where another Hurriyat leader was present during the meeting, which went on for around an hour, according to sources in the state government.
In the light of the accusations by the JRL that NIA raids and summons are being carried out to subdue the leadership into submission and eventually to get them on board with the interlocutor, it would be interesting to watch whether Sharma would be able to break the ice this time over.
Talks Without Hurriyat Futile: NC
Senior National Conference leader, Akbar Lone Monday said without the Hurriyat meeting the Interlocutor Dineshwar Sharmas, his third visit would meet the same fate as that of the previous ones.
If they are talking to mainstream parties only, nothing is going to happen adding that they have to talk to other parties including Hurriyat, Lone said. People wouldnt care about such visits, if they are not talking to Hurriyat, he said.
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