Priority is restoring peace: Dineshwar Sharma on being appointed as interlocutor for J&K

Dineshwar Sharma, who was appointed as interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir by the central government has said he hopes that he lives up to the expectations.

"It's a big responsibility. I hope I live up to the expectations," Dineshwar Sharma told ANI.

Addressing the reporters shortly after his appointment, Sharma said, "The government has given me a very big responsibility, nothing can be better than improvement of situation in J&K".

Sharma also said that he would visit the state in another 8-10 days to assess the situation there and come up with a plan to take the peace process forward. "Priority is restoring peace (in J&K) and finding a permanent solution," he added.

Sharma, a 1979-batch (retired) officer of the Indian Police Service, served as the IB director between December, 2014 and 2016.

Sharma is the fourth interlocutor appointed by the Centre since 2002. The first one was former Union minister K C Pant, the second N N Vohra, the present governor of the state, and the last a three-member panel comprising former bureaucrat M M Ansari, academician Radha Kumar and late journalist Dileep Padgaonkar.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh this afternoon said former director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Dineshwar Sharma would be the central government's representative to initiate dialogue with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir.

OneIndia News