The Centre has stepped up back-channel efforts to find an opening for discussions with representatives of J&K, which are at loggerheads over the Amarnath land transfer row.
NEW DELHI: The Centre has stepped up back-channel efforts to find an opening for discussions with representatives of Jammu and Kashmir, which are at loggerheads over the Amarnath land transfer row.
National security advisor MK Narayanan will travel to the troubled regions on Wednesday for an on-the-spot assessment. He will also try to follow leads given by some important persons connected with track-two diplomacy on Kashmir. Home secretary Madhukar Gupta might accompany Narayanan.
The first major initiative by the Centre on J&K, ever since the trouble began following the Amarnath land row, came when prime minister Manmohan Singh met these individuals in Gupta and Nara-yanan’s presence.
Sources privy to the deliberations said Singh sought their inputs to solve the problem. “He patiently listened to them without offering any comment,” they said.
Among those who met Singh were veteran journalist Prem Shanker Jha, Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation chairman Sushaba Bharve and supreme court lawyer Ashok Bhan.
Last week, the PM held a similar meeting with national information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, who is an IAS officer of the J&K cadre.
Sources said these individuals suggested that India take a fresh initiative on starting trade and commerce through cross-LoC points. One of the suggestions was that New Delhi send a delegation to Pakistan to prepare for the October deadline already agreed upon by the two countries to start trade and commerce on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route and at some other LoC points in Jammu.
a_anil@dnaindia.net
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