New Delhi: The situation in Jammu and Kashmir
came up for discussion today at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee where Home Minister P Chidambaram briefed
the party`s top brass.
The meeting of the apex policy making body of the party
was the first after an all-party delegation led by Chidambaram
visited the state, which was witnessing unrest for the past
three months.
The discussion saw members expressing satisfaction over
the improvement in the situation in the valley in last few
days and underlining the need for a healing touch instead of
administrative actions in order to reach out to the people
there.
AICC general secretary and media department chief
Janardan Dwivedi said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi
expressed sorrow over the lives lost there and welcomed the
recent initiatives of the Centre to bring normalcy there.
A senior party leader, on the condition of anonymity,
said there was a view in the CWC that the recent initiative of
the Government on Kashmir had brought improvement in the
conditions there.
"CWC was happy to note that the initiatives on Kashmir
were on the right track," the leaders said adding that the
political steps being taken by the Centre have started showing
results.
AICC general secretary in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir
Prithviraj Chavan as well as former state Chief Minister
Ghulam Nabi Azad were not present in the meeting as they were
out of Delhi.
The CWC discussed the Kashmir issue against the backdrop
of the Centre mulling appointing a group of interlocutors
headed by a Congress leader with the rank of a Union Cabinet
Minister to carry forward the proposed peace talks in Jammu
and Kashmir.
The Centre is also reportedly mulling the option of
appointing a political person as Governor for the first time
in the history of the sensitive state.
PTI
