The Hindu : National : Patil to submit report on Kashmir to Manmohan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2004

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National

Patil to submit report on Kashmir to Manmohan

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 9. After his three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, today held a series of meetings with his junior ministers and top officials to prepare a comprehensive report on his visit and submit it to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

"The report, containing the issues and points which came up during the visit and their solutions, both long-term and short-term, will be prepared within a week or so," Mr. Patil told reporters here.

Preparatory visit

The Home Minister's visit, described as "preparatory" to Dr. Singh's visit to Jammu and Kashmir later this month, has helped the Ministry to make a fresh assessment of the ground situation and the security scenario in the State. "I will meet the Prime Minister when he returns from The Hague and apprise him of my visit in detail," Mr. Patil said.

Today's meeting was attended by the Ministers of State for Home, Sriprakash Jaiswal and S. Regupathy, the Centre's interlocutor on Kashmir, N.N. Vora, the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, A.K. Doval, the Home Secretary, Dhirendra Singh, and the chiefs of the Central Reserve Police Force and Border Security Force.

Official sources indicated that an exercise was on to evolve economic and other packages for Jammu and Kashmir, which the Prime Minister is likely to announce during his visit.

Mr. Patil dubbed his visit as "a step forward" and reiterated the Government's resolve to hold dialogue with various sections of society to bring about normality in the State.

He expressed the hope that the separatist leaders would also join the process of dialogue. "We are willing to talk to everyone, who wants to talk to us," he said.

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