The Centre’s interlocutor for dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, said if radicalisation in the Valley picks up, the situation will be similar to that in Yemen, Syria and Libya, IANS reported. He said he is pained to see that the youth in Kashmir have chosen a path that would only “destroy the society”.

“People will start fighting in so many groups,” Sharma said. “I will have to convince the youth of Kashmir that they are only ruining their future and the future of all Kashmiris in the name of whether they call it azadi [independence], Islamic caliphate or Islam.”

Sharma said his mission was to talk to anyone – from the youth to rickshaw drivers – who wants to contribute to peace in Kashmir. “Somehow the minds of youths and students have been diverted somewhere else...I have seen the violence in Kashmir from very close quarters. So the kind of violence I have seen, I am really pained. I am very sad,” he said, according to IANS.

On October 23, Sharma was appointed by the Centre to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of the state, political parties, different organisations and residents of the state. Sharma is an officer from the 1979 Indian Police Service batch and the former director of the Intelligence Bureau. He has been the interlocutor for talks with rebel groups in Manipur and Assam, as well.