J&K interlocutor says keen to meet Hurriyat

SRINAGAR: Centre’s interlocutor for Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma, who is on a five-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, met different political parties on Wednesday and also expressed his desire to meet the Hurriyat leaders.

Earlier in the day, Sharma called on former chief minister and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah at his residence to discuss the prevailing situation in the state. “We (also) discussed steps that can be taken to make his visit to the state more meaningful,” Omar told reporters after the meeting.

The NC leader, whose party had adopted autonomy resolution a few days ago, however, said “the autonomy issue was not raised”. “I met in my personal capacity but when our party meets him, we will discuss autonomy for J&K, which is the stated position of National Conference.” He said his party did not get an invite.

Sharma later called on Communist party of India (Marxist) leader MY Tarigami at his residence. Tarigami met him with other independent legislators Hakim Mohammad Yaseen and Ghulam Hassan Mir. The leaders reiterated their position that Kashmir was a “long-pending

complex issue which has generated untold sufferings and miseries for the people of the entire state in general and for the residents of Kashmir Valley in particular”. Later in the day, he met state Congress chief GA Mir. But most trade bodies boycotted meetings with him on Monday.