"The issue of Jammu and Kashmir is a political issue and demands a political solution. This can be achieved only through dialogue with all the stakeholders," the group said in a statement issued here.
In the aftermath of the summer agitation and clashes between mobs and security forces last year, which left 85 people dead and thousands injured, a 'concerned citizens' team, led by former External Affairs Minister Sinha, visited the Valley twice on a fact-finding mission.
The visits of the team were facilitated by the Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation, a Delhi-based group working in Kashmir for more than a decade.
The statement said, "We are deeply concerned at the deteriorating situation in the Kashmir valley. The loss of lives in the recent incidents was unnecessary and avoidable."
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It urged the Centre to initiate a dialogue involving all the stakeholders in the state.
"We, therefore, call upon the Government of India to immediately begin the process of dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir by involving all the stakeholders," the statement read.
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