SRINAGAR: A five-member civil society delegation led by senior BJP leader and former Union finance minister, Yashwant Sinha, on Tuesday met separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani here in an effort to break ice over the three-month-long unrest in the Kashmir Valley triggered by the killing of militant Burhan Muzaffar Wani. The delegation has, however, no mandate from the BJP government at the Centre as was made clear by Mr. Sinha.
“We are a few people of goodwill who have come here on the basis of humanity. The aim is to share the pain and sufferings of the people. If we can do that, we will consider ourselves as fortunate,” Mr. Sinha told reporters after emerging from a meeting with Mr. Geelani at his Hyderpora residence here.
Mr. Sinha, after the delegation’s meeting with Mr. Geelani, said, “We met Geelani in a cordial atmosphere. We are here to talk to the people. We’re here to understand the sufferings of Kashmiri people and we are not representing the government of India.”
Asked if they had been invited by the separatists, the former Union minister said, “We do not have an invitation. We had requested for meetings with them”. The BJP also distanced itself from Mr. Sinha’s meeting with the octogenarian separatist leader. “It is not a BJP delegation. The BJP has nothing to do with this,” said BJP’s national secretary Shrikant Sharma.
The other members of the delegation are former chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities and first Chief Information Com-missioner of India Wajahat Habibullah, former Vice-Air Marshal Kapil Kak who is currently associated with the Centre of Air Power Studies, journalist (Editor of Catch News) Bharat Bhushan and Executive Director, Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation Sushobha Barve.
The delegation will be in the Valley for three days to meet as many people it can and also to assess the ground situation. On the first day of the visit, the delegation had separate meetings also with other senior separatist leaders Shabir Ahmed Shah and Prof. Abdul Gani Butt.
