Dineshwar Sharma arrives on five-day J&K visit today

Dineshwar Sharma, the Centres special representative for Kashmir, will arrive here on Monday on a five-day visit to start the multi-layered dialogue process.

Official sources said the new interlocutor will stay in the Valley for three days while spend two days in the Jammu region to start the dialogue process with various political parties, socio-cultural organisations, individuals and opinion makers.

Given the status of the Cabinet Secretary, the highest ranking civil servant in the country, Dineshwar Sharma has been accorded 'Z' category armed security cover.

Sources in the separatist camp here said the officials have made attempts to persuade Syed Ali Geelani, the octogenarian separatist leader, to meet the interlocutor.

"While Geelani Sahib does not oppose a dialogue process, but at the same time he is not ready to facilitate a process that is aimed at delaying rather than resolving the basic issue," sources said.

The joint resistance leadership (JRL), an umbrella of separatist leaders including Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, have already dismissed any possibility of a dialogue with the interlocutor.

Former Chief Minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah said on Sunday he does not expect much from the process being started by appointing a new interlocutor.

Three officially designated interlocutor groups headed by K.C. Pant, N .N. Vohra and Dilip Padgaonkar have visited the state during the last 15 years to create a headway for ending the ongoing cycle of violence in Kashmir.

--IANS

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