Omar Abdullah for setting up Truth and Reconciliation Commission in J&K

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Saturday echoed his views before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the state to "restore confidence" of people in democratic institutions.

During his speech at the 15th National Integration Council, 41-year-old Omar brought up the issue of "unprecedented levels of violence" the state has witnessed over the years.

"The time has come to find an out of box solution to bring an element of closure to this pernicious cycle of untold sufferings."

"To my mind, of the many other options, that can be considered in this regard, the setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission can be a possible first step towards assuaging the alienation and in restoring the confidence of the people in democratic institutions of the state," he said.

He urged the delegates at the NIC, where cabinet ministers including Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram were present, to discuss the idea and give it "a fair trial".

His comments come in the wake of State Human Rights Commission finding last month that over 2,000 unidentified bodies were buried at 38 sites in north Kashmir.

Omar had earlier expressed the opinion that a commission should be formed and assigned to find answers to the incidents of the last 21 years, both by militants and security forces.

At the NIC meeting, Omar informed the participants that there has been a significant improvement in the overall internal security situation in the state over the last couple of years with the number of terrorist incidents going down steadily.

"Thanks to the close cooperation and synergy between the Armed Forces, the Central Paramilitary Forces and the State Police, the overall situation continues to improve further with considerable pressure being brought to bear on the militants," Omar said.

He said the number of militancy-related incidents has shown a downward trend with only 144 such incidents being reported between January 1 and August 31 this year as against 268 incidents in the corresponding period in 2010.

The Chief Minister said the last two years have witnessed a remarkable 46.27 per cent drop in terrorist incidents. As against 47 civilians killed in 2010, 27 civilians have been killed in militancy-related incidents up to August 31 this year.

"The work done in this regard and sacrifices made by the security forces are commendable as 69 security personnel also lost their lives in taking action against militants in the state. However, we cannot commit the mistake of thinking that all the threats to peace have been eliminated," he said.