Dineshwar visits Tral as residents observe shutdown
SRINAGAR : The Centre’s special representative for Jammu and Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, was greeted with a shutdown in south Kashmir’s Tral town — home to some of the prominent militant commanders like Burhan Wani and Zakir Musa.
From early morning, thousands of security forces personnel including police and paramilitary were deployed in the town in Pulwama district taking the residents by surprise.
“Immediately after morning prayers, we saw a huge number of forces converge into the town. When word spread that Dineshwar Sharma is arriving, shopkeepers downed the shutters of their shops and traffic movement also became thin,” said a Tral resident not wishing to be named.
South Kashmir has emerged as a hotbed of militancy ever since mass protests erupted here in the aftermath of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani’s death in July 2016. Slain militant commanders like Wani and Sabzar Bhat were from Tral. The chief of Al-qaeda’s Kashmir faction, Zakir Musa, is also from this place.
Sharma, who arrived on Thursday morning, met people from varied backgrounds in the Tral town-hall.
“I went to Tral because people say sentiment (of the local populace) is bad there. I wanted to go and see people (for myself). Normally people don’t go there, so I thought I must go and see and meet people,” Sharma said.j
The delegations which Sharma met included some cricketers demanding playgrounds, lawyers seeking construction of a chamber, PDP and BJP leaders besides some Sikh leaders.
When asked about his assessment of the situation, Sharma only said, “I don’t want to discuss that in the media.”
In October last year, the Centre had appointed Sharma, a former director of the Intelligence Bureau, to “initiate and carry forward a dialogue” in Kashmir.
The move was part of an initiative to alleviate the unrest festering in the state since long.