Will wait and see the results: Omar Abdullah

Will keep an open mind, wait to see results of the dialogue process, the former chief minister tweeted.

SRINAGAR: In a series of tweets immediately after the Centre appointed ex-Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as its interlocutor for J&K, former chief minister and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Monday hoped the process would yield results.

“Centre announces an interlocutor to engage with stake holders in Jammu and Kashmir. Will keep an open mind and wait to see results of the dialogue process,” Omar tweeted. “The acceptance of political nature of the #Kashmir issue is a resounding defeat of those who could only see use of force as a solution,” he added.

Party patron Farooq Abdullah asked the Centre to look into previous reports of earlier interlocutors “instead of wasting efforts on starting from scratch”.

“There are so many reports lying in New Delhi untouched. The previous reports should first be debated in Parliament, instead of sending a new person,” said Abdullah. “I think it’s just a wastage of time,” he added. “Doval doctrine has failed as people in Kashmir were not suppressed with force. People proved that if you try and suppress Kashmir with force, Kashmir will rise again,” he said.

However, chief minister Mehoobab Mufti expressed confidence in the decision. Calling Sharma a “man of great credibility”, she said, “Since there are no bars or preconditions in the dialogue, I hope all stakeholders will come forward for it.”

While the separatist leadership chose not to comment immediately, sources close to them said backchannel talks may be already in the works. They added that some state government emissaries had also met leaders from the hardline faction of the Hurriyat. Wajahat Habibullah, former chairperson of National Commission for Minorities, said: “I don’t think it is a well thoughtout plan. The choice of the interlocutor is also questionable as many people might not want to talk to a former IB officer.”