<p>At a time when Indo-Pak dialogue resumed after more than three-year hiatus, back-channel players in Kashmir have resurfaced to engage separatist leadership in the dialogue process.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Senior BJP leader and head of now revived Kashmir Committee, Ram Jethmalani, met several separatist leaders, including hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, on Sunday.<br />“Separatist leaders are ready to make some compromises to thrash out a solution to the Kashmir issue,” Jethmalani told a vernacular news agency.<br /><br />He said that unless the extreme positions on both sides were not abandoned, “no solution was possible.”<br /><br />“Majority of the people in Jammu and Kashmir want a peaceful solution and for this, a compromise on their respective stands is inevitable,” Jethmalani, who was law minister in Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government at the Centre, said.<br /><br />Asked if there were any indications of separatists blinking first, he said, “If a hardliner like Geelani sahib sits with me to talk Kashmir problem it must be seen as an indication that there is scope for a compromise on certain issues.”<br /><br />“There is no other way than to shed the tough stands on all sides, including Pakistan, if any consensus is to be reached,” he added.<br /><br />Jethmalani, who revived his Kashmir Committee earlier this year after the separatists refused to meet the three-member New Delhi appointed interlocutors team in 2010. He received a big boost when Geelani met him in New Delhi earlier this year to discuss intricacies of the Kashmir dispute.<br /><br />The BJP stalwart had motivated Geelani to meet number of former diplomats, Army officers and politicians at his Akbar Road residence in New Delhi in February this year.<br />Reportedly, film actor and BJP legislator Shatrughan Sinha had also held a chat with Geelani.<br /><br />“It is for the first time since 2010 that track II diplomats have become active on Kashmir as the government of India wants to engage separatist leadership,” sources told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Jethmalani, accompanied by KC members V K Grover (former Indian foreign secretary), Madhu Kishtwar (woman rights activist) and Manu Sharma have also met moderate separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Shabir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khan.</p>
<p>At a time when Indo-Pak dialogue resumed after more than three-year hiatus, back-channel players in Kashmir have resurfaced to engage separatist leadership in the dialogue process.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Senior BJP leader and head of now revived Kashmir Committee, Ram Jethmalani, met several separatist leaders, including hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, on Sunday.<br />“Separatist leaders are ready to make some compromises to thrash out a solution to the Kashmir issue,” Jethmalani told a vernacular news agency.<br /><br />He said that unless the extreme positions on both sides were not abandoned, “no solution was possible.”<br /><br />“Majority of the people in Jammu and Kashmir want a peaceful solution and for this, a compromise on their respective stands is inevitable,” Jethmalani, who was law minister in Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government at the Centre, said.<br /><br />Asked if there were any indications of separatists blinking first, he said, “If a hardliner like Geelani sahib sits with me to talk Kashmir problem it must be seen as an indication that there is scope for a compromise on certain issues.”<br /><br />“There is no other way than to shed the tough stands on all sides, including Pakistan, if any consensus is to be reached,” he added.<br /><br />Jethmalani, who revived his Kashmir Committee earlier this year after the separatists refused to meet the three-member New Delhi appointed interlocutors team in 2010. He received a big boost when Geelani met him in New Delhi earlier this year to discuss intricacies of the Kashmir dispute.<br /><br />The BJP stalwart had motivated Geelani to meet number of former diplomats, Army officers and politicians at his Akbar Road residence in New Delhi in February this year.<br />Reportedly, film actor and BJP legislator Shatrughan Sinha had also held a chat with Geelani.<br /><br />“It is for the first time since 2010 that track II diplomats have become active on Kashmir as the government of India wants to engage separatist leadership,” sources told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Jethmalani, accompanied by KC members V K Grover (former Indian foreign secretary), Madhu Kishtwar (woman rights activist) and Manu Sharma have also met moderate separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Shabir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khan.</p>
