Kashmir Unrest: NC seeks solution through talks with Pak, separatists amid Rajnath’s visit

Main opposition National Conference today asked the Centre to initiate a sustained dialogue with Pakistan as well as separatists groups in Jammu and Kashmir for evolving a consensus for a mutually acceptable solution to the political issue.

The party also said it would be a travesty to treat the current unrest in the Valley as a mere law and order problem.This was conveyed to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is here since yesterday to review the situation, by a delegation of National Conference (NC), led by former Chief Minister and its working President Omar Abdullah.

In a memorandum to the Home Minister, the NC expressed deep disappointment at the Centre’s failure to recognise the problem in Kashmir “as a political problem which requires political engagement both internally and externally.”

While it was “palpable and shocking” to see the continued failure of the state government in dealing with the situation, “it would be a travesty to simplify the current unrest in the Valley as a pure law and order issue,” the party said.

It said the tried and tested formulations of New Delhi in dealing with political sentiment in Kashmir “operatively and militarily”, rather than “thinking out of the box”, has further exasperated the situation and created an unprecedented sense of disaffection and cynicism especially among the youth that could have adverse long-term implications.

The delegation hoped that the Centre would consider the consequences of refusing to acknowledge the political sentiment in Kashmir and take immediate steps to initiate a sustained political dialogue with Pakistan and internal dialogue with stakeholders and a cross-section of leadership in the Valley.

“A continued failure to address growing political alienation in Kashmir goes against the interests of the people of India,” they said.Registering its anguish, grief and sorrow over the painful loss of lives in the Valley in the current unrest, the NC condemned the PDP-BJP’s state Government’s “evident insensitivity and blatant inefficiency in dealing with this heart-rending situation.”