Third round of talks with Hurriyat in June: Vohra

The centre's interlocutor for J-K, N.N. Vohra, while announcing that the next round of Centre-Hurriyat talks would be held around June-end, ...

The centre’s interlocutor for J-K, N.N. Vohra, while announcing that the next round of Centre-Hurriyat talks would be held around June-end, today made it clear that the Government was engaging with different sections of people in the state for consultations.

After an hour-long meeting with Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Vohra said the dialogue process encompassed a cross section of people from J-K and Ladakh.

To a query on broadening the base of the dialogue, he said: ‘‘We have already held talks with various sections of people in

target="_blank">Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh including professional groups of doctors and lawyers. Consultations with these sections will be carried forward.’’

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Vohra also indicated that political groups would be included in the dialogue process, but added that this could only happen after the elections were over and a new government took charge.

He said the third round of talks with the Hurriyat Conference would take place in the end of June and the dates would be decided after mutual consultations.

On his meeting with Advani, Vohra said: ‘‘I met him after a gap of nearly a month. I briefed him about the developments that had taken place during this period.’’ The issues included the ongoing elections in J-K, human rights issues and the release of detainees.

On Hurriyat’s call for boycotting the polls, Vohra said: ‘‘There is nothing more to say on this except that we have taken note of this. We have to understand their compulsions and pressures as well.’’

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And as for the Hurriyat demand to release some of the people booked under POTA, Vohra said these cases were pending in the courts and ‘‘we will not like to comment on them’’.

He, however, pointed out that 85 of those detained had been released and the state government keeps identifying detainees which is then placed before the Centre-state joint screening committee for a final decision.