The Centre, eager to give signals that will help normalise the situation in the Kashmir Valley, has done a review of the job plans being worked out for the youth of J&K. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a meeting with C. Rangarajan who heads an expert group which is to work out this plan for the state and reviewed the progress made on this front on Saturday.
The group is said to be considering a range of both short and long-term measures for enhancing employment opportunities in the state. The PM told the expert panel that he would like issues like skill enhancement, education and involvement of civil society and industry for generating employment opportunities in the state.
The prime ministerial review of the expert panel’s work comes close on the heels of the eight-point initiative that has been announced for the strife-torn state after the Cabinet Committee on Security met here on Saturday.
Significantly, Hurriyar hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani has already rejected this initiative and plans to carry on with his stir. However, this rejection drew a sharp response from the Union minister of state in the PMO, Prithviraj Chavan.
“It is a package not for the separatists but for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. I am sure when the package unfolds, the intention of the government to soothe the frayed tempers will come to the fore and there will be a positive reaction,” said Mr Chavan.
The MoS also said that he did not expect the separatists to “offer any positive reaction as they have a different agenda”. However, he added, “But we are willing to talk to anyone who wants to find a solution....Political leaders, social leaders, NGOs, even people with a different ideology, we’re willing to talk to them.”
In the meantime, the CPI(M) on Sunday said that the eight-point proposal announced by the Centre for Jammu and Kashmir “is a step in the right direction’’ even as it demanded that a political dialogue be initiated soon. “The group of interlocutors for initiating a dialogue should be primarily political in nature. It is only a political exercise which can help initiate a dialogue and sustain it,” the CPI(M) said in a statement. The party also termed the measures being taken by the government as “insufficient.’’