Journalism of Courage
The Centre’s representative to Jammu and Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma on Thursday met more than a dozen delegations at Shopian in south Kashmir, considered to have a strong presence of militants. With fewer people turning up to meet him this time, Sharma wrapped up his visit within three hours.
The circuit house outside Shopian town where the meetings took place was kept out of bounds for the media.
“We have many issues — roads, electricity and water. We are going to talk about these issues,” Noor-ud-din Noorani, a middle-aged man who was heading a delegation from Keller in Shopian said before his meeting with Sharma, who is on his fourth visit to the Valley.
While the day-to-day issues of Keller, a cluster of villages bordering Shopian and Pulwama districts, were high on Noorani’s mind, he also said he will talk to Sharma about the political aspect of the Kashmir problem.
“We will tell Dineshwar sahib to persuade Hurriyat. If somebody is sulking, you have to mollify him. When a child sulks at home, it doesn’t mean that the mother would keep him hungry. Both India and Pakistan should persuade them”.
Three youths were killed when Army fired at a group of protesters in Shopian on January 27. Family members of none of the youths met Sharma on Thursday.
A delegation from Hermain was led by its Numberdar Abdul Qayoom Wani. “We told him that Nehru had promised self-determination in 1947. Nothing happened,” he said after meeting Sharma.
A delegation from Sedow village of the district was headed by an old man, who refused to give his identity. “Our village is beautiful. It has a potential for tourism. We told him to develop it as a tourist place”.
Sources said family members of some youths picked up by security personnel met Sharma and sought his intervention for their release.
After the interactions that lasted for around three hours, Sharma left for Anantnag to meet some more delegations.
