I will talk to all the stakeholders once I visit J&K, Hurriyat shares equal space, says Dineshwar Sharma

I am likely to visit Kashmir next week and speak to all the stakeholders. As the Union home minister has said, I will be talking to all the stakeholders, which means I will be talking to all Indian citizens living in Kashmir. It will also depend upon how things go once I visit Kashmir. The Hurriyat shares equal space.

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In the past, the government has appointed interlocutors/committees on Kashmir. How is it going to be different this time?

Let me first visit Kashmir. I will go through the reports prepared by earlier committees and interlocutors to see what recommendations were made and what happened to them. I will look into all of this and meet the people of Kashmir. Only after that can I say how different this [special representative] can be.

What are your terms of engagement since the government has maintained in the past that any talks can only be within the framework of the Constitution? Have any terms of reference been given?

I have not received anything in writing from the government. But as the home minister has already announced, it is going to be wide-ranging; that means leave it totally to me. At least, that is what I could make out from his press conference.

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Will you also reach out to people of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir?

My mandate is to speak to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. I am not going to hold any dialogue with the people of PoK. Upon my visit, I will assess the situation on the ground and then take a call on which group needs to be engaged first and the future dialogue process.