Yashwant Sinha initiates talks with separatist leaders in Srinagar

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha, who led a "high-level delegation" to meet hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani and \chairman of the moderate section of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, today said they are "not a delegation" and are in Kashmir for the sake of mankind to reduce pain and sadness of the people of the Valley.

Sinha told the media, "We want to make this clear that we are no delegation. We a few people are people of goodwill and are here for the sake of mankind and our aim is to reduce pain and sadness of the people in Kashmir. By doing this, we will feel ourselves to be luckiest ones," Singh said.

"We are also planning to meet other separatist leaders as well. We are doing it at a point when the time is appropriate," he added.

It has been more than 100 days of continuous violence in the Valley that started with the killing of Burhan Wani, a militant commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, by Indian security forces on July 8.

More than 90 people have been killed and over 12,000 sustained pellet and tear smoke shell injuries across Kashmir; besides, financial losses to the Kashmir economy have already crossed over Rs 10, 000 crore (according to Kashmir Economic Alliance) and shutdown of all educational institutions has put the future of thousands of students in jeopardy.