His statement comes days after the moderate Hurriyat Conference expressed readiness for dialogue and said back-channels were open with India and Pakistan.
The stage seems set to restart the stalled talks with separatists. Union home minister P Chidambaram has said, “We will have a dialogue with every section of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. We mean dialogue process will start and it will be carried to its logical conclusion.” Chidambaram was addressing a Congress workers’ rally at PCC headquarters here.
He is, in fact, the first home minister to visit the PCC headquarters in the last 20 years of turmoil. Militants have often targeted the headquarters with rockets and grenades. “I have a completely open mind. I will listen to a number of people and will absorb the suggestions. I am confident that within a short period of time we will be able to come up with some solution to the political problem of J&K,” he said.
His statement comes days after the moderate Hurriyat Conference expressed readiness for dialogue and said back-channels were open with India and Pakistan. Talks between New Delhi and the separatists broke down in 2006 after the Hurriyat refused to join the round table conference organised by New Delhi. Before that, they had had two rounds of dialogue with former deputy prime minister LK Advani and one round with Manmohan Singh.
Chidambaram also said that the J&K police should lead the security apparatus backed by central paramilitary forces, while the army guards the borders. “We are working on these lines and we have made progress,” he said.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah noted that progress in dialogue both internally and externally was the need of the hour. “All voices should be heard, all opinions taken into account and every concern noted down to take the right and best decision for finding a solution,” he said.
Union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah, however, criticised delay in formalising the working group’s recommendations on Centre-state relations. “Nobody other than Justice Sageer knows what happened to the working group of Centre-state relationship. It still remains a mystery. How long will we have to wait?” he asked.
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