INTERIOR MINISTER TO VISIT KASHMIR SOON, SAYS J and K CONGRESS CHIEF

NATURAL WITH URDU SPEECH

DURATION: 1.57

SOURCE: ANI

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Interior minister to visit Kashmir soon, says J and K Congress chief.

Saifuddin Soz, state Congress Chief of India's northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, says that Interior Minister P. Chidambaram will visit the state in February to assess the political situation in the valley besides taking inputs of various groups in the state on the report submitted by Kashmir interlocutors to the centre.

SHOWS:

JAMMU, JAMMU AND KASHMIR, INDIA (JANUARY 30, 2011) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC)

1. INDIA'S POWER MINISTER, SUSHIL KUMAR SHINDE LAYING FLOWERS IN FRONT OF FATHER OF THE NATION, MAHATMA GANDHI'S PICTURE AT THE RALLY

2. SPECTATORS AT THE RALLY

3. SHINDE AND SAIFUDDIN SOZ, CHIEF OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR STATE CONGRESS COMMITTEE (JKPCC) WAVING THEIR HANDS TO THE SPECTATORS

4. SPECTATORS

5. A GARLAND BEING PUT AROUND THE STATE CONGRESS CHIEF

6. A SPECTATOR LOOKS ON

7. CONGRESS LEADERS ON THE STAGE

8. SOZ AND SHINDE INTERACTING

9. SOZ LOOKS ON

10. SHINDE

11. A CONGRESS LEADER SPEAKS TO THE AUDIENCE

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) SAIFUDDIN SOZ, CHIEF OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR STATE CONGRESS COMMITTEE (JKPCC), SAYING: "The interlocutors have submitted reports on Kashmir to the centre. As of now, I have no information on how the Home (Interior) Minister (P. Chidambaram) is responding to the reports. But I am informed that he intends a political discussion over the reports with the Jammu and Kashmir politicos. He (Chidambaram) has visited Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions before, but this time I will be welcoming him. I believe he will be arriving on February 3, which is the tentative day. Then he will sit with us and the interlocutors and discuss openly on political dispensation to be thought on Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh."

13. SPECTATORS WAVING CONGRESS FLAGS

STORY: Saifuddin Soz, state Congress Chief of India's northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, said on Sunday (January 30) that Interior Minister P. Chidambaram would visit the state in February to assess the political situation in the valley besides taking inputs of various groups in the state on the report submitted by Kashmir interlocutors to the centre.

According to Soz, the tentative date of Chidambaram's visit to the state is February 3.

Soz said this while addressing a Congress rally on Sunday in Jammu to mark the death anniversary of Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

"The interlocutors have submitted reports on Kashmir to the centre. As of now, I have no information on how the Home (Interior) Minister (P. Chidambaram) is responding to the reports. But I am informed that he intends a political discussion over the reports with the Jammu and Kashmir politicos. He (Chidambaram) has visited Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions before, but this time I will be welcoming him. I believe he will be arriving on February 3, which is the tentative day. Then he will sit with us and the interlocutors and discuss openly on political dispensation to be thought on Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh," said Soz, President of Jammu and Kashmir state Congress Committee (JKPCC).

Sushil Kumar Shinde, Federal Minister of Power also attended the rally with other Congress leaders.

The three-member interlocutor panel of Dileep Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar, M.M. Ansari, meanwhile began their fourth visit to the state on Monday (January 17) and visited Udhampur, Srinagar and Budgam districts.

The Indian government had appointed the panel on October 13 last year to begin the dialogue process with communities and local leaders of the valley to get an account of their problems India's restive Kashmir region.

Aiming at bridging the stark communication gap between the Indian government, separatist factions and the locals, the panel has been touring the strife-ridden state to revive peace talks between the concerned parties for an amicable political settlement of the decade long issue.