India names new envoy to defuse Kashmir tensions

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh says Dineshwar Sharma, a former intelligence chief and a new interlocutor, will hold dialogue to understand the "legitimate aspirations of the people of Kashmir."

A masked Kashmiri protester shows the victory sign after drawing graffiti on the wall of a building in Srinagar city on September 27, 2016.
AP

A masked Kashmiri protester shows the victory sign after drawing graffiti on the wall of a building in Srinagar city on September 27, 2016.

India appointed on Monday a special government representative to pursue talks in disputed Kashmir aimed at easing a decades-long conflict that has claimed thousands of lives.

It is the first such initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an ardent nationalist, to address tensions in the restive territory since his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in 2014. 

Dineshwar Sharma, a former intelligence chief with experience of insurgencies in India's northeast, has been named special envoy to open talks with Kashmir's various factions.

"As a representative of government of India ... Sharma will initiate a sustained interaction and dialogue to understand legitimate aspirations of the people of Kashmir," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in New Delhi.

Similar efforts in the past to resolve the intractable conflict have failed in India-administered Kashmir. 

But immediately after Singh's remarks, another BJP leader Jitendra Singh said that there will be no talks with the pro-independence groups. 

"How can you speak to people who indulge in violence ... ," he was quoted as saying by News18

The announcement comes as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heads to Pakistan on Tuesday followed by a visit to India. 

The English-language newspaperThe Hindu quoting sources said that Tillerson will discuss the possibility of dialogue between India and Pakistan. 

Kashmir has been divided between Pakistan and India since the end of British colonial rule in 1947, but both claim the territory in full.

For decades rebel groups have fought over half a million Indian soldiers deployed in the tiny Himalayan region in a bloody insurgency, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the region, and most people support the rebels' cause while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.

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Critics have accused India – which maintains a standing force of half a million soldiers in Kashmir – of extending an olive branch while refusing to loosen its grip on the Himalayan territory.

There is no suggestion Pakistan will be involved in the talks. 

Critics have accused India of extending an olive branch, while refusing to loosen its grip on the region.

The Indian army this year launched "Operation All-Out" to hunt rebels fighting against Indian rule in the restive state. At least 166 rebels and 59 government troops have died so far this year.

This isn't the first time that interlocutors have been sent to Kashmir. 

At the peak of 2010 civil uprising, New Delhi dispatched three interlocutors to Kashmir but never adopted their recommendations to ease tensions in the region. 

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