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Kashmir can't turn into Syria, deradicalising youth top priority: Govt

Interlocutor says he’s even ready to talk to a ‘thelawala’.

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The government's interlocutor for talks in Jammu and Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, has said that the biggest challenge and the top priority are to deradicalise the youth and militants and prevent the Valley from turning into India's Syria.

The mission is to talk to anyone — ordinary youth, even a rickshawala or a thelawala — who can contribute in ensuring that violence ends and peace returns as soon as possible, Sharma told a news agency.

"I am worried about the people of Kashmir. If all this picked up, the situation will be like Yemen, Syria and Libya. People will start fighting in so many groups. So, it is very important that everybody, all of us, contribute so that suffering of Kashmiris end".

On October 23, the government decided to initiate talks with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir, hoping to restore peace by appointing the former Intelligence Bureau chief as a "special representative for a sustained dialogue", following a prolonged period of violence in the state.

He told the news agency that he will have to convince the youth of Kashmir that they are only ruining their future and the future of all Kashmiris in the name of whether they call it azadi, Islamic caliphate or Islam.

"It is a big challenge and I will go about my job with an open mind," Sharma had earlier told DNA. On being asked whether he will also talk to the separatist leadership of Hurriyat Conference, he had said, "We will speak to whoever is required to speak to... after consultations and a sense of the ground situation". Sharma is a Bihar-born, Kerala-cadre IPS officer of the 1979 batch. 

He tracked terror networks in Kashmir and in the Northeast for decades. He is known to have compassionate view on the sufferings of the conflict-hit state. Sharma always kept a low profile and spent 25 years in the IB and headed the agency between 2014 and 2016.

Over the last one year since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, there has been an escalation in violence. Stone-pelting mobs including women and children clashing with security forces had become a routine affair last year. With terror outfits luring local youth, and terrorists burning down schools, the dialogue process will focus on bringing them back to mainstream. Security forces have gunned down 175 terrorists this year compared to 150 in 2016.

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