Omar meets PM to discuss Kashmir interlocutors

NEW DELHI - Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the appointment of interlocutors for a renewed dialogue with separatist leaders in the troubled valley — one of the main points in the government’s eight-point agenda for peace in Kashmir.

Abdullah apprised the prime minister of the latest situation in the state and also discussed the appointment of interlocutors who will begin the process of a sustained dialogue with all sections of people in Kashmir, especially the separatists, an official here said.

Sources said the team of interlocutors will be headed by a politician.

Last month, the central government laid out an eight-point agenda for peace in Kashmir, including freeing over 245 youths arrested for stone pelting. The state has seen over 100 civilian deaths in clashes with security forces in the last over three months.

The government is also mulling the removal of a number of security pickets from Srinagar and other towns.

The other big step includes the government’s decision to ask the Unified Command of the state to review the disturbed areas to pave the way for removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFPSA) from areas where there has been no militant presence.