Defeat of those who saw force as solution: Omar on Centre's

Following the Centre's announcement today about a "sustained dialogue" on Kashmir, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said that the acceptance of the political nature of the issue was a defeat of those who saw force as a solution.

The National Conference (NC) leader also sought to know the implications of the move on the NIA investigations into the terror funding cases in the Valley.

Abdullah was reacting to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh statement about the appointment of former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as the Centre's representative for a dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir.

"Centre announces an interlocutor to engage with stake holders in J&K. Will keep an open mind and wait to see results of the dialogue process," the former chief minister said in one of the tweets he posted after the announcement.
 

Referring to the home minister's statement that Sharma would try to understand the legitimate aspirations of the people of the state, Abdullah sought to know who would define which of the demands are genuine.

"The 'legitimate aspirations' of people of J&K is an interesting formulation. Who gets to decide what is legitimate?" he tweeted.

He also sought to know the fate of the probe into terror funding cases.

"What does this mean for the NIA investigation in J&K? Will investigation be suspended to facilitate dialogue with detained Hurriyat leaders?" he asked.

Abdullah said the Centre's move on a dialogue was a resounding defeat for those who saw force as the only solution to Kashmir issue.

"The acceptance of the political nature of the Kashmir issue is a resounding defeat of those who could only see use of force as a solution," he added.

Responding to a tweet about the choice of a non-political representative, Omar said the mandate given to the interlocutor was more important.

"One can't get everything. So for now, we'll take what we can get. More important than the person is the mandate and absence of pre-conditions," he said.