Dineshwar Sharma reaches out to students, says violence never a solution

The Central government’s special representative for Jammu and Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, today told students in south Kashmir’s Anantnag town that gun was never going to be a solution to anything.
“Gun is never a solution to anything. It is my personal belief and I am telling you this because some among you sometimes think that it is a solution. It is not,” a student quoted Sharma as saying after meeting him.
As per reports, locals, a majority of them students, met the interlocutor at Dak Bungalow in Anantnag today. This was Sharma’s second visit to restive south Kashmir.
He visited Pulwama on Sunday and met over a dozen delegations there.
Sharma, as per reports, met around 30 delegations in Anantnag today. Of them, nine delegations comprised students from various colleges and schools of Anantnag district.
Rest of the delegations comprised mainstream political workers, including Congress and the BJP leaders, civil society members and minority Sikhs and Kashmiri Pandits.
Sharma reached Anantnag around 10 am and spent more than eight hours meeting the delegations.
Although the media was not allowed inside the venue, students who met Sharma talked to mediapersons after they left the venue.
Students said they raised some ‘important’ issues with Sharma, including resolution of the Kashmir issue and amnesty to students booked for stone-throwing.
“We told him that there has been a lack of sincerity in the Centre’s approach. On the one hand, they call us their own and on the other, we get shot at with pellets, which in other parts of the world are used on animals,” a student who met Sharma said.
Students said they talked about the student protests that had rocked the Valley earlier this year and asked Sharma to take back a detailed analysis of why the protests had taken place.
“I told him that the education sector will continue to suffer unless sincerity is shown in bringing peace to the Valley,” a girl student said.
Students said Sharma assured them that he would take back an “honest report” from the ground.
He also told the students that gun was in no way a solution and youngsters should desist from thinking that it (picking up arms) could bring about anything positive.
The other delegations, which met Sharma, also sought a sincere approach towards the resolution of the Kashmir issue.
The Congress delegation led by Shangus MLA Gulzar Ahmad said it had sought engagement of the Hurriyat Conference in the dialogue process.
“We have sought engagement of every stakeholder, including the Hurriyat Conference,” Gulzar told mediapersons.
The Pandit delegation, among other issues, sought the Centre’s help in a “proper rehabilitation process”.tion sector will continue to suffer unless sincerity is not shown in bringing peace to the Valley,” a girl student said.
Students said Sharma assured them that he would take back an “honest report” from the ground.
He also told the students that gun was in no way a solution and youngsters should desist from thinking that it (picking up arms) can bring about anything positive.