Centre unveils new Kashmir initiative

The cabinet committee on security (CCS) today decided to appoint a group of interlocutors under the chairmanship of an eminent person to begin the process of a sustained dialogue with all sections of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

The group will interact with all sections of society, including political parties and groups, youth and student organisations, civil society organisations and other stakeholders, home minister P Chidambaram announced this after the CCS meeting.

Besides, he said, the centre will request the state government to immediately convene a meeting of the Unified Command so as to review the deployment of security forces in the Kashmir valley, especially Srinagar.

The state government along with the Unified Command will decide on de-scaling the number of bunkers, check-points etc in Srinagar and other towns and review the notification of areas as 'disturbed areas', he said.

As part of the confidence-building programme, the centre will advised the state government to immediately release all students and youth detained or arrested for violations of law and to withdraw the charges against such students and youth, Chidambaram said.

The state governments may also be advised to immediately review the cases of all PSA detenues and withdraw the detention orders in appropriate cases.